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After  the  copy  made  h\  lVillia??i  L.  Sheppard^ 
from  the  original  at  Boot  on  Rectory^  Nor- 
folk^  England^  for  the   State  of  Virginia, 


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l^i'yi\< 


COLONIAL 
VIRGINIA 


T.  A.  C.  Chandler 
AND  T.  B.  Thames 


Times-Dispatch  Company,  Richmond,  Va.,  U.  S.  A. 
M  C  M  V  1 1 . 


Copyright,  1907. 
Times  -  Dispatch  Company, 


Manufactured  by 
L.   H.  Jenkins,   Richmond,  Va 


L 
UNIVERSITY  v'^   .  ..LIFOR 
SANTA  BARBARA 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

I.  The  Lost  Colony  of  Roanoke  Island 3 

II.  A  Great  Trust — The  London  Comtany  16 

III.  Reasons  for  Colonization   30 

IV.  John  Smith,  the  Hero  of  Jamestown  42 

V.  The  Land  of  Powhatan  and  His  People  56 

VI.  Pocahontas,  the  Heroine  of  Jamestown   70 

VII.  The  Travail  of  the  Nation 87 

VIII.  The  Beginnings  of  Education  in  Virginia  103 

IX.  The  Labor  System  of  Colonial  Virginia  114 

X.  The    First    American    Legislative    Assembly    and    Its 

Significance    131 

XI.  Tobacco   146 

XII.  Home  Building  in  the  Seventeenth  Century  163 

XIII.  Massacre  and  Revenge   176 

XIV.  Planting  the  Church  in  the  Wilderness   190 

XV.  Virginia  Under  Charles  I.  and  Cromwells  207 

XVI.  Bacon's   Rebellion    223 

XVII.  The  Passing  of  Jamestown  and  the  Rise  of  Williaafs- 

burg    239 

XVIII.  An  Infant  Nation's  Industries    253 

XIX.  Politics  in  Colonial  Virginia   270 

XX.  The  Colonial  Gentleman    285 

XXI.  The  Westward  Motoment — 1716-1774    299 

XXII.  The  Settlers  of  the  Frontier    313 

XXIII.  Patrick  Henry,  Virginia's  Great  Commoner  332 

XXIV.  Thomas   Jefferson    356 

XXV.  George  Washington,  the  Sword  of  the  Revolution  ....  372 


COLONIAL  VIRGINIA. 

CHAPTER  I. 
THE  LOST  COLONY  OF  ROANOKE  ISLAND. 

It  is  a  far  cry  from  San  Salvador  to  Jamestown.  More 
than  a  century  elapsed  after  the  discovery  lof  the  Western 
Continent  by  Columbus  before  a  permanent  settlement  by 
the  English  was  effected.  As  late  as  the  beginning  of  the 
seventeenth  century  it  looked  as  though  Spanish  preoccu- 
pancy  was  to  remain  unchallenged.  Aside  from  a  few  hun- 
dred Spaniards  at  St.  Augustine  and  Santa  Fe,  there  were  no 
white  men  to  be  found  within  the  present  limits  of  the  United 
States.  There  had,  however,  been  brave  and  frequent  efforts 
to  plant  an  English  colony  on  the  American  shores.  In  spite 
of  repeated  disasters  and  bitter  disappointments,  it  was  never 
difficult  to  find  Englishmen  who  v/ere  willing  to  make  the  bold 
\enture.  The  spirit  of  the  Crusaders  lingered  long  after  the 
Crusades  were  done  with.  The  call  of  the  South  Sea,  the 
golden  dream  of  the  Eldorado,  the  incessant  dread  of  Catholic 
aggression  and  of  Spanish  encroachment,  made  it  always  pos- 
sible to  secure  both  men  and  means  for  every  serious  effort 
at  colonization. 

Five  years  after  Columbus  pointed  the  way  to  the  new 
lands,  John  and  Sebastian  Cabot,  sailing  vmder  the  English 
flag,  touched  upon  the  shores  of  North  America  and  claimed 
the  new  continent  for  England.  Henry  VII.,  to  show  his 
gratitude,  presented  to  the  Cabots  the  munificent  gift  of  £io. 


4  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA. 

Frobisher  and  Gilbert  bravely  ventured  into  the  cold 
and  desolate  regions  of  the  extreme  northern  coast,  each  seek- 
ing a  passage  to  the  Orient.  Later,  Gilbert  sought  to  secure 
the  English  in  thein  claim  to  North  America. 

Drake,  with  dauntless  and  infinite  piracy,  "plowed  a  fur- 
row around  the  world,"  compassing  the  western  coast  as  far 
north  as  Oregon,  naming  it  New  Albion,  and  claiming  it  fior 
England. 

Raleigii,  in  superb  faith  and  sacrifice,  himself  sent  out  two 
colonies.  The  first  of  these  quailed  before  the  dangers  and 
desolations  of  the  wilderness,  and  went  back  home.  Of  the 
second  there  remained  only  the  undeciphered  word  "Crotoan," 
blazed  upon  a  tree,  to  tell  of  the  fatal  tragedy  that  came  upon 
the  settlers  in  their  lonely  island  home. 

GosnoLd,  eschewing  the  older  and  more  genial  route  by 
the  Canaries,  espoused  the  open  sea,  and  blazed  a  new  path 
across  the  ocean,  saving  a  week's  sailing  time  and  shortening 
the  route  by  a  thousand  miles. 

Of  these  expeditions  and  attempts  at  settlement,  those  of 
Sir  Humphrey  Gilbert  and  Sir  Walter  Raleigh  were  the  most 
serious  and  elaborate.  These  were  half-brothers.  Millais  has 
a  great  picture  called  "The  Boyhood  of  Sir  Walter  Raleigh." 
A  veteran  sailor  is  relating  stories  of  strange  seas  and  shores 
to  two  lads.  In  their  eyes  is  a  far-away  look  that  compasses 
distance  and  undiscovered  shores,  and  in  their  ears  is  the  in- 
cessant call  of  the  sea.  One  of  these  lads  is  Sir  Walter  Raleigh 
and  the  other  is  Sir  Humphrey  Gilbert,  his  half-brother. 

Gilbert  was  a  patriot,  soldier  and  seaman,  esteemed  wor- 
thy of  a  place  by  the  great  Admiral  Drake.  There  can  be 
ro  doubt  but  that  Millais's  picture  was  suggested  by  the  con- 
ferences that  these  two  brothers  must  often  have  liad  to- 
gether touching  the  finding  aad  settlement  of  the  American 
shores 


THE  LOST  COLONY  OF  ROANOKE  ISLAND.       5 

In  June,  1578,  Gilbert  got  from  Queen  Elizabeth  letters 
patent,  authorizing  him  to  make  discoveries  and  to  plant  colo- 
nies in  that  part  of  the  New  World  not  occupied  by  any  Chris- 
tian prince.  Several  unsuccessful  expeditions  were  made. 
However,  in  1583,  Gilbert  sailed  from  Plymouth,  England, 
vv'ith  a  fleet  of  five  small  ships,  the  largest  of  which,  in  honor 
of  his  half-brother,  was  named  Raleigh.  He  was  not  long  in 
reaching  St.  John's  harbor,  Newfoundland.  Here  he  found 
thirty-six  fishing  vessels,  the  owners  of  which  at  first  refused 
him  permission  to  land,  but  on  his  showing  the  commission 
of  his  Queen  they  reluctantly  yielded.  Going  immediately 
ashore  he  took  possession  of  the  land  in  the  name  of  the 
crown  lOf  England. 

The  land  was  bleak,  the  climate  was  inhospitable,  and 
for  one  reason  and  another  the  men  soon  fell  sick,  and  finally 
they  gave  up  the  enterprise  and  returned  to  England. 

Sir  Humphrey  Gilbert  embarked  in  a  "mere  trivial  yacht," 
called  The  Squirrel,  of  only  ten  tons  burden.  In  it  he  ex- 
plored the  dangerous  coasts  of  Cape  Breton,  and  refused  to 
leave  the  little  vessel  and  the  little  company  with  whom  he 
had  passed  so  many  perils.  After  having  gone  about  three 
leagues  from  Newfoundland,  the  little  vessel  sprang  a  leak 
and  made  slow  headway  in  the  face  of  a  furious  storm.  He 
insisted,  however,  that  he  must  remain  with  his  comrades, 
and  when  last  seen  he  was  sitting  in  the  stern  of  the  boat  with 
a  book  in  his  hand,  and  cried  repeatedly  to  the  sailors  in  the 
Golden  Hind,  "We  are  as  near  heaven  by  sea  as  by  land." 
The  captain  of  the  Golden  Hind  reported  that  "about  twelve 
of  the  clock  suddenly  the  light  of  The  Squirrel  disappeared, 
and  withal  our  watch  cried  out,  'Our  general  is  cast  away,' 
which  was  top  true,  for  in  that  moment  the  frigate  was  de- 
voured and  swallowed  up  in  the  sea."  Thus  perished  one  of 
the  bravest  fjorerunners  of  American  colonization,  and  thus 


6  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA. 

failed  one  of  the  most  daring  ventures  in  the  settlement  of  the 
new  continent. 

Raleigh  was  not  discourag-ed  by  the  failure  and  death  of 
liis  brother.;  In  1584  he  secured  from  the  Queen  a  charter 
with  the  right  to  establish  colonies  in  any  part  of  the  New- 
World.  It  seemed  to  him  wise  that  exploring  parties  should 
be  sent  out  to  designate  the  places  where  it  would  be  best  to 
plant  new  colonies.  He  therefore  sent  out  two  ships  to  ex- 
plore the  coasts  of  North  America,  one  commanded  by  Cap- 
tain ArtlHir  Barlow,  and  the  other  by  Captain  Philip  Amadas. 
I'hese  two  explorers  crossed  the  ocean  and  landed  on  the 
shores  of  North  Carolina,  somewhere  in  the  region  of  Cape 
Hatteras.  They  were  greatly  charmed  with  the  country  into 
which  they  had  come.  The  Hatteras  Indians  proved  most 
friendly  and  hospitable,  and  their  King,  Wingina,  gave  them  a 
most  cordial  invitation  to  visit  his  land  and  people.  On  the 
acceptance  of  this  invitation  they  were  treated  with  marked 
hospitality,  especially  by  the  wife  of  the  great  chief.  Of  her 
it  was  said :  "She  was  small,  pretty  and  bashful,  clothed  in  a 
leather  mantle  with  the  fur  turned  in.  Her  long,  dark  hair 
was  restrained  by  a  band  of  white  coral ;  strings  of  beads  hung 
from  her  ears  and  reached  her  waist." 

These  explorers  were  greatly  impressed  with  the  beauty 
and  fertility  of  the  land.  The  forests  of  pines,  live-oak,  tulip 
trees  and  tall  cedars  were  filled  with  wild  turkey  and  other 
game.  The  v/ater  seemed  to  be  literally  teeming  with  fish, 
crabs  and  oysters.  On  their  return  to  England  they  reported 
that  this  new  land  far  exceeded  the  land  of  old  Canaan,  and 
that  it  was  more  beautiful  and  fertile  than  the  land  which 
"flows  with  milk  and  honey."  Their  stay  in  the  new  coun- 
try had  been  long  enough  for  them  to  make  friends  with  many 
of  the  Indians,  and  they  carried  back  to  England  two  natives 
bv  the  names  of  Manteo  and  Wanchese. 


THE  LOST  COLONY  OF  ROANOKE  ISLAND.       7 

Raleigh  was  delighted  with  the  report  that  thej^  brought 
back,  and  the  Virgin  Queen  Elizabeth  became  enthusiastic, 
and  in  her  own  honor  named  the  new  country  VIRGINIA. 

As  designated  by  Queen  Elizabeth,  Virginia  was  a  broad 
expanse  of  territory,  the  boundaries  of  which  were  not  defin- 
itely kniown.  An  old  chronicler  said :  "The  bounds  thereof  on 
the  east  side  are  the  ocean,  on  the  south  lieth^ Florida,  on  the 
north  Nova  Francea ;  as  for  the  west,  the  limits  thereof  are  un- 
known." 

In  the  meanwhile  Sir  Walter  Raleigh  was  continually 
growing  in  favor  at  the  court.  The  Queen  was  exceedingly 
fascinated  with  his  gallant  and  courtly  manners.  About  this 
time  he  was  made  a  knight  and  became  a  member  of  Parlia- 
ment. In  order  that  he  might  have  the  means  wherewith  to 
realize  his  colonial  schemes,  the  Queen  granted  him  a  monop- 
cly  of  the  tax  on  wine.  Having  thus  secured  the  means,  he 
determined  to  follow  up  the  explorations  already  made  by 
an  effort  to  plant  a  colony  in  the  New  World.  He  entrusted 
the  general  management  of  the  enterprise  to  the  great  Eng- 
lish seaman.  Sir  Richard  Grenville.  Such  was  the  interest  in 
the  effort  to  establish  a  colony  that  Grenville  was  accom- 
panied by  Thomas  Cavendish,  the  distinguished  navigator; 
Thomas  Harriot,  the  best  known  mathematician  of  England, 
and  John  White,  the  artist,  who  drew  the  illustrations  of  the 
country  that  were  used  in  DeBry's  edition  iof  Harriot's  de- 
scription of  Virginia,  known  as  "A  Brief  and  True  Report  of 
the  New  Found  Land  in  Virginia."  This  was  the  same  John 
White  who  was  afterwards  made  Governor  of  Raleigh's  second 
colony.  He  made  seventy-six  pictures  in  water  colors,  of 
which  twent3'--three  were  engraved  by  DeBry.  A  visitor  to 
the  British  Museum  can  see  in  the  Grenville  Librar}^  every 
one  of  these  originals  of  priceless  value. 

Late  in  June,  1585,  Roanoke  Island,  at  the  mouth  of  Albe- 


8  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA. 

marie  Sound,  was  reached  and  selected  as  a  place  on  which  to 
plant  the  colony.  There  were  one  hundred  and  eight  set- 
tlers. The  Indian  Manteo  returned  with  them  and  at  once 
announced  to  Wingina,  the  King  of  the  Hatteras  Indians,  the 
arrival  of  his  English  friends. 

After  exploring  the  coast  within  a  range  of  eighty  miles, 
Grenville  left  the  colony  in  charge  of  John  Lane,  Lane  con- 
tinued exploring  even  to  Chesapeake  Bay,  and  visited  the 
piesent  site  of  Norfolk.  He  was  undoubtedly  the  first  Eng- 
lishman to  view  Hampton  Roads  and  the  surrounding  country. 

The  colony  of  Roanoke  Island  never  prospered.  The 
colonists  had  come  with  the  expectation  that  the  fertility  of 
the  land  would  make  work  unnecessary.  They  had  consider- 
able trouble  with  the  Indians,  mainly  on  account  of  their  own 
harsh  and  unjust  treatment  of  them.  With  the  lack  of  in- 
dustry and  of  real  purpose  to  remain  in  the  new  country,  to- 
gether with  their  spirit  of  enmity  toward  the  aborigines,  the 
failure  of  the  colony  was  inevitable. 

In  the  fall  of  the  year  they  spied  a  fleet  of  twenty-three 
ships,  which  proved  to  be  English  sails  under  the  charge  of 
Sir  Francis  Drake,  returning  to  England  after  a  cruise  in 
South  American  waters.  Carrying  out  instructions  that  he 
had  received  from  Queen  Elizabeth,  he  was  visiting  the  colo- 
nists to  ascertain  their  condition  and  needs.  So  grave  was 
the  situation  that  he  agreed  with  them  that  they  should  re- 
turn with  him  at  once  to  England.  The  houses  were  aban- 
doned, but  not  destroyed.  The  colonists  carried  back  with 
them  tobacco,  Indian  corn  and  potatoes,  three  products  of  the 
American  continent  which  were  not  known  in  England. 
Raleigh  planted  the  potatoes  on  his  estate  in  Ireland,  and 
since  that  day  they  have  become  the  chief  food,  of  the  I  ush 
people,  and  on  this  account  they  are  commonly  called  'T:'ish 
potatoes." 


'7  'j -'P- 14  V^^' . 


Sd    -      »     ,'1.. 


'  I    J 


Queen    Elizabeth. 


THE  LOST  COLONY  OF  ROANOKE  ISLAND.       9 

The  use  of  tobacco  soon  came  to  be  a  fad  in  England,  both 
among  the  men  and  women.  The  story  is  told  that  Raleigh 
persuaded  the  Queen  to  try  a  pipe  of  tobacco.  After  two  or 
three  puffs  she  became  greatly  nauseated,  at  which  a  number 
of  maids  of  honor  laughed,  while  others  declared  that  Raleigh 
had  poisoned  the  Queen.  She  soon  recovered,  however,  and, 
in  disgust  with  her  ladies  of  the  court,  forced  them  all  to 
undergo  her  experience.  Another  story  is  told  that  Raleigh 
wagered  with  the  Queen  that  he  could  weigh  the  smoke 
which  was  expended  from  a  pipeful  of  tobacco.  The  Queen 
accepted  the  wager,  whereupon  Raleigh  weighed  the  tobacco, 
smoked  it,  weighed  the  ashes  and  declared  that  the  smoke 
represented  the  difference.  We  are  also  told  that  one  day 
while  Raleigh  was  smoking  in  his  room  his  servant  came  in 
bringing  him  a  glass  of  ale.  Seeing  the  smoke  come  from  his 
master's  mouth,  he  threw  the  glass  of  ale  on  his  master^ 
lushed  out  and  gave  the  fire  alarm.  By  the  time  of  King 
James  the  First  the  smoking  of  tobacco  became  prevalent 
throughout  all  England.  The  King  could  not  indulge  himself 
without  being  made  sick,  and  consequently  became  a  strenuous 
opponent  of  the  use  of  the  weed,  and  wrote  a  violent  and  not 
very  dignified  book,  "The  Counter  Blast,"  in  which  His 
Majesty  declared  that  smoking  was  a  vile  offense  against 
humanity  and  a  curse  to  Christianity. 

Raleigh  refused  to  be  discouraged  even  by  the  failure  of 
his  first  colony  beginning  under  such  favorable  auspices  and 
having  such  fair  promise  of  permanent  success.  In  his  far- 
seeing  vision  he  took  in  always  the  possibility  of  an  England 
in  the  New  World,  and  he  determined  to  make  yet  another  at- 
tempt. So  it  fell  out  that  in  1587  he  sent  out  three  other 
vessels,  with  John  White  as  governor,  with  instructions  to 
plant  a  colony  on  Chesapeake  Bay  or  on  the  Elizabeth  River. 
If  these  instructions  had  been  carried  out,  Raleigh's  second 


lo  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA. 

colony  would  have  been  planted  at  Sewell's  Point,  near  the 
spot  where  the  Jamestown  Exposition  Company  is  to  com- 
memorate the  first  permanent  settlement  of  1607. 

Unfortunately  for  the  colonists,  their  pilot  took  them  back 
to  Albemarle  Sound,  and  after  some  debate,  it  was  reluctantly 
concluded  tiO  plant  there  the  second  time  a  colony  on  Roanoke 
Island.  This  expedition  was  composed  of  men,  women  and 
children.  A  short  time  after  they  landed,  the  governor's 
'daitghter,  Eleanor,  gave  birth  to  the  first  English  child  born 
in  America.  She  was  christened  "Virginia"  in  honor  of  the 
new  country.  Just  a  week  before  the  christening  of  Virginia, 
Manteo  had  been  baptized  into  the  Christian  faith,  doubtless 
the  first  trophy  of  the  Christian  religion  from  among  the 
aborigines  of  America. 

In  a  little  while  the  colonists  were  at  war  with  the  Indians, 
and  the  large  store  of  supplies  that  they  had  brought  with 
them,  under  bad  management,  was  dwindling  perceptibly. 
It  was  thought  best  that  Governor  White  should  at  once  re- 
turn to  England  for  additional  supplies.  He  went  away, 
leaving  on  the  island  eighty-nine  men,  seventeen  women  and 
eleven  children. 

White  was  gone  for  three  years.  On  his  return  to  England 
he  found  Raleigh,  Grenville  and  Lane  gathered  about  the 
Queen  in  earnest  and  urgent  preparation  for  Spanish  invasion. 
In  the  midst  of  such  engagements  and  excitements  Raleigh, 
In  his  abundant  enthusiasm,  found  time  to  form  a  company 
for  prosecuting  the  purpose  of  maintaining  an  English  colony 
in  America.  Among  those  interested  in  this  company  were 
Sir  Thomas  Smith,  afterwards  the  treasurer  of  the  London 
Company,  and  Richard  Hakluyt,  Dean  of  Westminster,  and 
author  of  a  celebrated  book  of  voyages.  With  two  ships 
White  was  dispatched  under  the  auspices  of  this  new  com- 
pany with  supplies  for  Roanoke  Island.     Unfortunately  his 


THE  LOST  COLONY  OF  ROANOKE  ISLAND,     ii 

ships  fell  in  with  privateers  and,  after  a  bloody  engagement, 
were  disabled  and  compelled  to  return  to  England. 

The  Spanish  Armada  was  so  imminent  that  no  furcher 
tliought  could  be  given  to  the  lonely  colonists  on  the  Island 
of  Roanoke.  Neither  men  nor  ships  could  be  spared  for  other 
enterprises ;  all  were  needed,  and  at  once,  to  meet  the  coming 
Armada.  Drake,  Grenville  and  Lane,  and  others  interested 
Vv^ith  them  in  the  schemes  of  colonization,  were  conspicuous 
in  that  great  naval  conflict.  When  the  Armada  was  defeated, 
and  England's  supremacy  on  the  sea  established,  thought  was 
immediately  given  to  the  settlers  at  Roanoke  Island.  Mean- 
while three  years  had  passed  and  no  word  had  come  from 
them  and  no  word  had  gone  to  them.  But  with  such  dis- 
patch as  the  confusion  of  the  times  permitted,  Raleigh  and 
White  organized  a  relief  expedition  and  sent  ships  and  sup- 
plies to  the  rescue  of  the  lonely  settlers.  When  the  expedi- 
tion reached  the  island  there  was  nowhere  to  be  seen  any  sign 
or  token  of  the  colonists.  Houses  were  in  ruins  and  covered 
with  vines.  Around  the  doors  grew  vegetation  which  indi- 
cated that  for  a  year  at  least  the  colony  had  been  abandoned. 
Before  leaving  for  England  it  had  been  agreed  between  White 
and  the  colonists  that  should  it  be  found  necessary  to  abandon 
the  settlement  before  his  return  they  should  leave  a  mark  on 
a  tree  by  which  he  might  know  whither  they  had  gone.  It 
was  understood  that  a  cross  would  be  the  sign  that  they  had 
left  the  colony  in  distress.  He  searched  over  the  island  and 
at  last  upon  a  tree  he  saw  plainly  graven  the  word  "Croatan." 
There  was,  however,  no  cross  to  indicate  that  they  had  left 
in  distress.  After  a  rather  desultory  search  of  the  neighbor- 
hood he  returned  home,  reporting  that  the  colony  was  lost. 
As  a  matter  of  fact,  no  really  serious  or  diligent  search  was 
ever  made  for  the  lost  colonists.  Raleigh  sent  out,  indeed, 
all  told,  five  expeditions,  but  they  only  came  to  the  immedi- 


12  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA. 

ate  neighborhood  of  Roanoke  Island,  and  made  neither  a  wide 
nor  a  thorough  search  for  their  lost  countrymen.  "Croatan" 
tlierefore  remains  an  undeciphered  word ;  no  man  knows  what 
was  in  the  mind  of  the  settler  who  carved  it  in  the  live-oak 
t^ee  on  Roarijoke  Island.  If  the  island  had  been  swallowed  up 
by  the  sea  this  colony  could  not  have  been  more  completely 
lost  to  human  sight  and  kin.  History  will  probably  never  relate 
what  became  of  the^e  brave  men  and  women.  Indians,  how- 
ever, reported  to  the  first  settlers  of  Jamestown  their  knowl- 
edge of  the  paleface  to  the  south.  Some  creditable  historians 
believe  that  through  the  veins  of  the  Croatan  Indians  of  North 
Carolina  flows  the  blood  'of  Raleigh's  settlers,  and  maintain 
that  the  settlers,  forsaking  their  island  home,  were  adopted  by 
the  Croatan  Indians,  and  after  a  while  intermarried  with  them. 
It  is  not  improbable,  therefore,  that  among  the  survivors  of 
that  old  tribe  are  some  to-day  who  are  the  descendants  of 
Virginia  Dare,  the  first  English  child  born  on  American  soil. 

The  State  of  North  Carolina  has  not  been  unmindful  of 
the  historical  significance  of  Raleigh's  attempt  at  settlement 
within  its  borders.  Its  capital  city  is  named  after  this  great 
English  statesman ;  and  upon  the  site  of  old  Eort  Raleigh 
there  has  been  erected  a  monument  commemorating  this  great, 
if  unsuccessful,  enterprise.  Upon  the  monument  is  written 
this  inscription : 

"On  this  site  in  July-August,  1585  (O.  S.),  colo- 
nists, sent  out  from  England  by  Sir  Walter  Raleigh, 
built  a  fort,  called  by  them  'The  New  Eort  in  Vir- 
ginia.' 

"These  colonists  were  the  first  settlers  of  the  Eng- 
lish race  in  America.  They  returned  to  England  in 
July,  1586,  with  Sir  Erancis  Drake. 

"Near  this  place  was  born,  on  the  i8th  of  August, 
1587,  Virginia  Dare,  the  first  child  of  English  parents 
born   in    America,   daughter   of   Ananias   Dare   and 


THE  LOST  COLONY  OF  ROANOKE  ISLAND.     13 

Eleanor  White,  his  wife,  members  of  another  band  of 
colonists,  sent  out  by  Sir  Walter  Raleigh  in  1587. 

"On  Sunday,  August  20,  1587,  Virginia  Dare 
was  baptized.  Manteo,  the  friendly  chief  of  the  Hat- 
teras  Indians,  had  been  baptized  on  the  Sunday  pre- 
ceding. These  baptisms  were  the  first  known  cele- 
brations of  a  Christian  sacrament  in  the  territory  of 
the  thirteen  original  United  States." 

None  of  the  early  English  efforts  at  colonization  were  alto- 
gether failures,  for  each  of  them  contributed  something  to 
the  world's  wider  knowledge,  and  made  more  sure  the  ulti- 
mate success  that  followed.  Together  they  constituted  that 
inevitable  John  the  Baptist,  whose  voice  crying  in  the  wilder- 
ness, and  whose  hands  casting  up  the  King's  highway,  pre- 
pared the  way  for  the  coming  of  larger  dispensation. 

This  chapter  must  not  be  dismissed  without  an  added  word 
concerning  Sir  Walter  Raleigh,  the  prophet  and  apostle  of 
American  colonization.  Concerning  him^  Canon  Kingsly 
said,  "TiO  this  one  man,  under  the  providence  of  God,  the 
whole  United  States  of  America  owe  their  existence." 

First  and  last,  he  spent  upon  these  efforts  at  colonization 
forty  thousand  pounds,  which,  in  his  day,  was  no  mean  for- 
tune. For  this  there  was  no  return  except  the  satisfaction  that 
his  efforts  made  more  possible  the  realization  of  the  dream 
that  had  been  the  inspiration  of  his  life.  His  mighty  heart 
beat  responsive  to  the  great  times  in  which  he  lived.  It  was 
the  era  of  the  renaissance  in  literature,  of  reform  in  religion 
and  of  commercial  enterprise  and  adventure.  Canon  Farpar 
says  most  beautifully  of  this  period,  "The  glory  of  England  in 
that  day  was  as  when  the  aloe  rushes  into  its  crimson  flower.'' 
The  flower  of  chivalry,  of  letters,  of  the  arts  and  sciences,  was 
breaking  into  the  imperial  bloom  of  the  Elizabethan  day. 
This  atmosphere  was  congenial  to  Raleigh's  great  spirit,  and 


14  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA. 

he  stood  conspicuous  in  that  splendid  coteiie  that  gathered 
about  the  Elizabethan  court.  In  him  gathered  at  once  the  re- 
finements, the  culture,  the  high  moral  earnestness,  the  chivalry 
and  daring  of  his  unequaled  day,  and  to  him,  as  to  no  other 
man,  came  clear,  full  and  steadfast,  the  vision  of  a  new  Eng- 
land, representing  and  perpetuating  the  old  England  upon  the 
western  shores  beyond  the  sea. 

In  him  came  all  the  contrasts  and  paradox  of  life.  If 
there  was  to  him  a  bright  and  gliorious  day,  there  was  also  a 
long  and  dark  night.  If  in  the  noonday  of  his  splendid  career 
"he  was  a  man  at  whom  men  gazed  as  at  a  star,"  in  the  even- 
ing he  staggered  toward  the  infinite  night,  a  lonely  man,  de- 
crepit and  discredited. 

In  the  reign  of  James  I.  he  was  unjustly  accused  of  trea- 
son, and  imprisoned  for  a  number  of  years.  During  this  time 
he  wrote  his  "History  of  the  W^orld,"  and  constantly  urged 
the  colonizing  of  America.  In  1618,  eleven  years  after  the 
Settlement  of  Jamestown,  he  was  executed.  With  a  single 
day's  notice  he  went  forth  to  his  execution,  not  reluctant  or 
afraid. 

On  the  morning  of  his  execution  he  was  visited  by  his 
wife  and  a  number  of  his  friends.  They  were  slow  to  leave, 
S/O  Raleigh  dismissed  them,  saying,  "I  have  a  long  journey 
to  make,  therefore  I  must  take  my  leave  of  you."  When 
they  had  departed  he  turned  to  the  executioner  and  asked 
if  he  might  see  the  ax.  The  headsman  hesitated,  where- 
upon Raleigh  said  to  him  calmly :  "Let  me  see  it.  Dost  thou 
think  I  am  afraid  of  it?"  Having  passed  his  fingers  across 
the  blade,  he  calmly  remarked :  "It  is  a  sharp  medicine,  but 
one  that  will  cure  all  of  my  diseases."  He  then  walked  to 
the  scaffold  and  said  to  the  executioner:  "When  I  stretch 
forth  my  hands,  dispatch  me."  Thereupon  he  quietly  laid 
his   head   upon   the   block,   with   his   face   to   the   'east,   and 


THE  LOST  COLONY  OF  ROANOKE  ISLAND.     15 

stretched  forth  his  hands.  The  executioner  was  so  unnerved 
that  he  either  did  not  observe  Raleigh's  action,  or  was  unwill- 
ing to  proceed  with  the  execution.  Raleigh  again  stretched 
forth  his  hands,  and  still  the  executioner  made  no  motion. 
Then  Raleigh  cried,  "What  dost  thpu  fear?  Strike,  man! 
strike !"  At  last  the  executioner  raised  the  ax  and  with  one 
stroke  severed  from  the  body  the  head  of  England's  polished 
courtier  and  far-seeing  statesman. 

Raleigh  had  proposed  England's  colonial  policy  and  had 
lived  to  see  the  establishment  of  a  successful  colony.  In  the 
very  year  that  he  was  executed  the  London  Company  had  re- 
organized, and  was  preparing  to  give  to  Sir  Georg-e  Yeardley, 
as  Governor  of  Virginia,  instructions  which  were  to  result  in 
the  establishment  of  the  first  legislative  assembly  in  Amer- 
ica ;  instructions  broad  enough  in  their  scope  to  pave  the  way 
for  an  American  democracy. 

In  the  Tercentennial  Commemoration  of  1907  Raleigh  will 
not  be  forgotten.  The  Daughters  of  the  American  Revolu- 
tion are  planning  to  place  on  Jamestown  Island  a  reproduction 
of  Hayes-Barton,  the  birthplace  of  Raleigh,  whom  Dean  Stan- 
ley has  designated  as  "The  Father  of  the  United  States." 

Some  years  ago,  under  the  direction  of  Canon  Farrar,  there 
was  placed  in  Westminster  Abbey  a  memorial  window,  given 
by  Americans,  to  commemorate  this  brilliant  statesman  and 
his  great  labors  on  behalf  of  American  colonization.  On  this 
window  was  inscribed  the  following  lines  from  James  Russell 
Lowell,  the  American  Minister  at  the  Court  of  St.  James: 

"From  England's  breast  we  drew 

Such  milk  as  bids  us  remember  whence  we  came. 
Proud  of  her  past,  wherefrom  our  present  grew, 
This  window  we  inscribe  with  Raleigh's  name." 


CHAPTER  II. 

A  GREAT  TRUST— THE  LOXDOX  COMPANY. 

The  efforts  at  colonization  made  by  Gilbert  and  bv  Raleig-h 
showed  that  the  task  was  too  large  and  grave  to  be  discharged 
by  individual  resource.  The  failures  of  Raleigh  especially  em- 
phasized that  the  planting  of  colonies  should  not  be  under- 
taken by  individuals.  Soon  it  began  to  be  conceived  that  what 
might  not  be  done  by  an  individual  might  be  achieved  by  a 
corporation.  Thus  early  in  the  development  of  our  civiliza- 
tion came  the  suggestion  of  a  trust  or  combine,  the  last  and 
consummate  flower  of  which  we  have  in  these  days. 

The  proposal  of  a  great  commercial  company  for  colonizing 
and  christianizing  the  Xew  World,  when  suggested  in  Eng- 
land, was  seized  upon  with  exceeding  avidity.  It  seems  as 
though  the  spirit  of  daring  and  adventure,  hitherto  expressed 
in  other  ways^  sought  now  to  find  expression  in  the  great  com- 
mercial and  colonizing  schemes.  The  conception  of  trading 
companies  developed  from  an  idea  indigenous  to  English  soil 
and  multiplied  most  rapidly  in  Holland,  France.  Sv.-eden,  Den- 
mark, and  even  in  Scotland  and  Russia.  An  incomplete  list 
will  show  that  from  the  years  1554  to  1698  there  were  in  these 
various  coimtries  not  less  than  seventy  of  these  companies 
chartered  for  commercial  and  colonizing  purposes.  Usually 
the  companies  were  organized  with  regard  both  to  colonizing 
End  to  commerce.  The  two  ideas  were  mutualh  dependent, 
the  success  of  one  carr\'ing  with  it  the  success  of  the  other. 
According  to  exigency,  therefore,  emphasis  was  put  upon  the 

16 


A  GREAT  TRUST— THE  LONDON  COMPANY.     17 

one  or  the  other  idea  as  circumstances  seemed  to  require. 
These  companies  were  awarded  by  the  crown  certain  privi- 
leges of  trade,  grants  of  territory  and  rights  of  government, 
subject  to  such  scrutiny  and  modifications  as  the  government 
might  afterwards  seek  to  impose.  The  returns  to  the  crown 
were  to  be  in  certain  tributes,  increase  of  commerce  and  ex- 
tension of  territory. 

Of  the  English  chartered  companies,  for  wealth,  scope  of 
operation  and  influence,  stability  and  permanency,  the  East 
India  Company  was  the  most  conspicuous.  It  received  its 
charter  from  Queen  Elizabeth  in  1600,  and  was  given  an  abso- 
lute monopoly  over  trade  in  all  countries  lying  between  the 
Cape  of  Good  Hope  and  the  Straits  of  Magellan.  The  charter 
was  granted  to  over  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  stockholders, 
and  its  government  was  placed  in  the  hands  of  a  governor, 
deputy  governor,  and  twenty-four  members  of  a  directing 
board  to  be  chosen  annually  by  the  stockholders  in  their  gen- 
eral assembly  or  court.  This  company  is  of  importance  in  re- 
lation to  Virginia  because  its  charter  was  closely  followed  by 
King  James.  ^Moreover,  the  British  East  India  Company  was 
the  most  remarkable  trading  and  colonizing  company  that  the 
world  ever  saw.  It  conquered  all  of  India  for  England,  laid 
the  foundation  of  great  wealth  for  British  merchants,  and  was 
not  finally  dissolved  until  1874. 

Before  the  last  failure  of  Raleigh's  efforts  the  idea  of  char- 
tering a  company  to  colonize  \*irg-inia  occurred  tc  him,  and 
to  that  end  he  effected  an  organization  for  carrying  out  his 
scheme.  He  turned  over  to  it  part,  if  not  all,  of  the  rights 
and  concessions  that  he  had  secured  from  the  Queen.  Some- 
what later  than  this  a  more  serious  and  general  movement  oc- 
curred looking  to  a  chartered  company  organized  more  nearly 
along  the  lines  of  the  East  India  Company  and  other  com- 
panies then  in  existence.     To  encourage  this  movement  there 


i8  COLONIAL  VIRGIMIA 

appeared  an  exceedingly  able  and  effective' document,  sup- 
posed to  have  been  inspired  and  written  by  Mr.  Hakluyt.  The 
paper  set  forth  "Reasons  or  motives  for  raising  of  a  publique 
stocke  to  be  imploied  for  the  peopling  and  discovering  of  such 
countries  as  maye  be  founde  most  convenient  for  the  supplie 
of  those  defects  which  this  realme  of  England  most  requireth." 
Concerning  the  necessity  fior  such  an  organization,  the  paper 
makes  this  cogent  statement:  "Private  purees  are  cowld  comp- 
forts  to  adventurers,  and  have  ever  ben  founde  fatall  to  all 
interprices  hitherto  undertaken  by  the  English,  by  reason  of 
the  delaies,  jealocies  and  unwillingnes  to  backe  the  project 
which  succeeded  not  at  the  first  attempt." 

The  success  of  a  similar  scheme  organized  in  Holland  is 
cited  as  an  example  of  what  might  be  done  under  English 
auspices:  "The  example  of  the  Hollanders  is  verie  pregnante 
by  a  maine  backe  or  stocke  having  effected  marvelous  mat- 
ters in  traffique  and  navigacon  in  a  few  years."  The  real 
argument  of  the  paper  is  that  England,  to  keep  abreast  with 
other  nations  of  the  world,  will  have  to  build  up  her  com- 
merce, and  that  England's  chances  for  colonial  dominions 
yielding  large  revenues  would  be  cut  off  if  France  and  Spain 
are  allowed  to  moniOpolize  the  American  lands.  The  result 
of  colonizing  would  mean  that  the  "merchandize  increasing 
thereby^  the  realme  will  be  inriched  yearly  by  manie  thou- 
sand pounds,  and  the  King's  imposte  and  customs  increased." 
Very  adroitly  does  the  paper  seek  to  insinuate  the  scheme 
into  the  King's  favior:  "It  would  savour  too  much  of  affec- 
tacon  of  a  popular  state  to  levie  monies  without  imparting 
some  convenient  portion  to  His  Majestic.  That  portion  ought 
not  to  be  smale  that  it  should  seame  to  undervalue  the  King's 
greatness  and  favour."     Wise  Mr.  Hakluyt. 

Finally,  in  the  year  1606,  the  King  granted  a  charter  to  two 
companies  known  as  the  London  and  Plymouth  Companies, 


A  GREAT  TRUST— THE  LONDON  COMPANY.  19 

it  being  understood  that  the  sphere  of  operation  of  the  Ply- 
mouth Company  should  be  in  northern  Virginia,  and  that  of 
the  London  Company  should  be  in  southern  Virginia,  it  be- 
ing stipulated  that  the  southern  boundary  of  northern  Virginia 
should  come  to  the  Potomac  River,  and  that  the  northern 
boundary  of  southern  Virginia  should  reach  as  far  as  the  Hud- 
son River.  In  other  words,  the  lands  between  the  Huds'on  and 
Potomac  Rivers  were  assigned  to  both  companies,  with  the 
proviso  that  the  company  last  planting  a  colony  should  not 
come  nearer  than  one  hundred  miles  of  any  settlement  pre- 
viously founded  by  the  other  company. 

The  charter  of  the  London  Company  was  granted  by 
name  to  Sir  Thomas  Gates,  Sir  George  Somers,  Richard 
Hakluyt  and  Edward-Maria  Wingfield.  All  of  these  save 
Hakluyt  came  at  one  time  or  another  to  Jamestov/n.  Wing- 
field  came  as  president  of  the  council  of  the  first  colony; 
Gates  as  first  absolute  governor,  in  1609,  and  Somers  as  ad- 
miral. Gates  lived  in  Virginia,  possibly  at  Jamestown,  from 
161 1  to  1614.  Hakluyt  was  prebendary  of  Westminster,  and 
remained  in  England  to  encourage  the  adventurers.  He  pub- 
lished many  accounts  of  the  voyages  by  others  to  the  New 
World. 

The  charter  of  the  Plymouth  Company  was  granted  to 
Raleigh  Gilbert,  William  Parker,  Thomas  Hamhan  and 
George  Popham.  Raleigh  Gilbert  was  a  son  of  Sir  Hum- 
phrey Gilbert  and  a  nephew  of  Sir  Walter  Raleigh.  William 
Parker  was  a  rich  merchant  of  Plymouth.  The  incorporators 
of  this  company  set  themselves  immediately  about  the  work 
of  organization.  The  Plymouth  Company  worked  with  more 
dispatch,  and  in  May,  1606,  sent  out  a  colony  which  was 
planted  near  the  mouth  of  the  Kennebec  River.  Here  they 
immediately  built  a  fort,  storehouse,  churchy  and  a  few  cabins 
in  which  to  live.     There  was  instituted  immediately  furious 


20  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA. 

and  futile  search  for  g"old  and  silver.  Their  stor<ehouse  was 
consumed  with  fire.  The  winter  was  exceedingly  severe 
and  hard  upon  these  unacclimated  settlers,  all  too  poorly 
housed  and  fed.  In  the  course  of  the  winter  Captain  Pop- 
ham  died.  On  the  opening  of  spring  there  came  a  ship  from 
England  bringing  further  supplies,  but  it  also  brought  the 
tidings  that  Chief  Justice  Popham,  who  was  the  chief  sponsor 
for  the  colony,  and  that  Raleigh  Gilbert's  elder  brother,  to 
whose  estate  he  was  heir^  were  both  dead.  These  tidings, 
added  to  the  trials  and  sufferings  of  the  severe  winter, 
seemed  to  furnish  sufficient  reason  for  abandoning  the  at- 
tempt at  settlement,  and  Gilbert,  with  all  the  settlers,  re- 
turned immediately  to  England.  This  was  the  only  serious 
attempt  ever  made  by  the  Plymouth  Company. 

Meanwhile  the  London  Company  had  not  been  idle  in  Its 
efforts  to  prepare  an  expedition  for  southern  Virginia,  and 
by  December,  1606,  three  ships  were  equipped  for  the  voyage 
rn  the  ocean.  The  Susan  Constant,  of  one  hundred  tons 
burden,  was  commanded  by  Captain  Christopher  Newport, 
and  was  the  flagship  of  the  little  fleet,  for  Captain  Newport 
was  in  charge  of  the  expedition.  The  Goodspeed,  of  forty 
tons  burden,  was  commanded  by  Bartholomew  Gosnold,  who 
had  persuaded  Gates,  Somers,  Hakluyt  and  Wingfield  to 
secure  a  charter  from  the  King.  The  Discovery  was  only  of 
twenty  tons  burden,  and  was  commanded  by  John  Ratcliffe. 
There  were  one  hundred  and  five  settlers,  besides  the  crews 
of  the  several  ships.  These  sailed  from  England  on  the  last 
day  of  December,  1606.  These  little  vessels  proved  to  be  the 
advance  guard  of  an  infinite  argosy  plying  between  the  shores 
of  the  Old  World  and  of  the  New. 

The  story  of  the  London  Company  is  one  of  significance 
and  thrilling  interest.  From  a  purely,  mercenary  beginning, 
however,  accompanied  with  other  motives^  there  was  a  steady 


A  GREAT  TRUST— THE  LONDON  COMPANY.  21 

evolution  and  flowering  toward  a  most  high  and  unselfish 
patriotic  motive  and  desire.  In  carrying  out  its  great  schemes 
it  came  to  be  one  of  the  most  pjotent  agencies  of  modern 
times  in  widening  and  establishing  human  liberty.  Its  his- 
tory is,  therefore,  the  story  of  a  long  struggle  toward  larger 
rights  and  liberty.  The  growth  in  membership,  of  interest 
on  the  part  of  the  English  people,  of  influence  both  at  home 
and  abroad,  was  slow,  to  be  sure,  but  very  real  and  substan- 
tial. Its  membership  represented  all  phases  of  English  life. 
Prominent  men  in  all  learned  professions  as  well  as  in  mer- 
cantile and  industrial  Hfe  became  leaders  in  the  movement. 
Three  different  charters  were  granted  to  the  company  by  the 
crown.  In  the  enlargement  of  powers  and  increase  of  lib- 
erty each  was  in  advance  of  the  other. 

The  first  charter,  granted  in  1606,  gave  small  liberty  to 
the  colonists.  The  affairs  of  the  company  were  to  be  man- 
aged by  a  council  of  thirteen  residents  in  England  and  ap- 
pointed by  the  King.  The  council  in  England  was  to  appoint 
from  the  settlers  a  council  in  Virginia.  The  settlers  were 
granted  certain  rights,  such  as  the  privilege  of  holding  lands 
and  trial  by  jury.  Five  offenses,  and  none  other,  were  made 
punishable  with  death :  murder,  manslaughter,  incest,  rape 
and  adultery,  and  no  plea  of  benefit  of  clergy  was  allowable 
except  in  case  of  manslaughter.  The  right  to  the  benefit  of 
clergy  for  this  particular  crime  existed  in  America  down  to 
the  Revolution,  and  the  person  pleading  it  was  punished  by 
being  burned  in  the  hand.  It  was  also  decreed  that  an  of- 
fender should  be  tried  in  the  colony  where  he  committed  an 
offense,  the  violation  of  which  principle  was  one  of  the  causes 
of  the  American  Revolution.  All  excesses,  drunkenness  or 
Otherwise,  should  be  punished.  It  was  also  decreed  that,  for 
five  years  at  least,  the  adventurers  should  hold  all  land,  pro- 
ducts and  returns  from  trade,  mines,  and  so  forth,  in  a  com- 


22  COLONIAL   VIRGINIA. 

mon  stock,  and  that  there  should  be  a  treasurer  or  cape  mer- 
chant to  handle  the  goods  and  property  of  the  adventurers. 
In  matters  of  religion  the  Church  of  England  was  to  furnish 
all  the  soul  comforts  that  the  Ciolonists  might  require.  This 
provision  w^as  probably  wise,  for  had  there  been  representa- 
tives of  other  phases  of  Christianity,  strife  and  contention 
would  have  been  inevitable. 

A  second  charter,  drafted  by  no  lOther  than  Sir  Edwin 
Sandys,  was  granted  in  1609,  The  company  was  made  into 
a  great  corporation,  composed  of  some  six  hundred  and  fifty- 
nine  of  the  most  distinguished  nobles,  knights,  gentlemen  and 
merchants  of  England,  and  Siome  fifty-six  city  companies  of 
London.  The  prerogatives  of  the  company  and  the  liberties 
of  the  colonists  were  somewhat  enlarged,.  Thomas  Smythe 
was  appointed  treasurer,  and  the  Earl  of  Southampton  and 
fifty-iOne  others  were  appointed  a  council  resident  in  England. 
In  this  council  were  fourteen  members  of  the  House  of  Lords 
and  thirty  members  of  the  House  of  Commons.  This  council 
had  the  right  to  make  all  regulations  and  to  determine  the 
fiorm  of  government  for  the  colony. 

A  third  charter  was  granted  in  1612^  extending  the  boun- 
daries of  Virginia  and  fixing  a  weekly  court  to  be  held  by 
the  council  in  England,  and  four  general  courts  a  year  of  the 
company.  One  interesting  clause  of  this  charter  was  the 
privilege  to  establish  lotteries  for  the  promotion  of  the  colony. 
All  former  privileges  were  reaffirmed,  and  the  charter  ex- 
pressly stated  that  all  laws  were  to  be  made  by  the  company, 
and  that  in  case  of  any  question  of  the  interpretation  of  the 
charter,  the  General  Court  should  construe  it  liberally  m 
favor  of  the  company.  It  was  under  the  operation  of  this 
charter  that  self-rule  was  obtained  for  the  colonists.  By  the 
privileges  lof  this  charter  the  London  Company  finally  estab- 
lished an   assembly   for  the   making  of  laws  governing   the 


A  GREAT  TRUST— THE  LONDON  COMPANY.  23 

coionists.  To  the  London  Company,  planted  in  the  heart  of 
London,  under  the  shadow  of  the  King's  throne,  must  be  ac- 
Ciorded  the  glory  of  projecting  the  first  legislative  assembly 
on  the  new  continent.  Hitherto  a  proceeding  like  this  had 
never  been  known.  It  is  impossible  to  have  imagined  that 
such  a  thing  could  have  occurred  in  any  other  European  coun- 
try, thus  indicating  how  largel}^  the  idea  of  human  rights  had 
been  developed  arnong  the  English-speaking  people. 

During  the  struggle  between  James  and  Parliament,  the 
London  Company  came  to  be,  in  view  of  the  fact  that  so  man}- 
of  its  members  sat  in  Parliament,  the  arena  in  which  was 
discussed  and  ventilated  questions  of  public  moment  and  in- 
terest. So  popular  did  it  become,  so  far-reaching  its  plans, 
so  bold  and  frank  its  utterances,  especially  in  matters  touch-, 
ing  the  rights  of  the  King,  and  so  effective  its  influence  upon 
all  classes  of  English  people,  that  the  King  finally  grew  sus- 
picious of  it  and  determined  in  some  way  to  restrict  the 
sphere  of  its  operations,  and  failing  in  that,  to  abrogate  the 
various  charters  by  which  it  had  the  warrant  lof  life. 

In  May,  1619,  Sir  Thomas  Smythe,  who  had  been  ap- 
pointed by  the  King  a  commissioner  of  the  navy,  requested 
to  be  relieved  of  the  office  of  treasurer.  Sir  Edwin  Sandys 
was  elected  as  his  successor.  Sandys  belonged  to  the  Lib- 
eial  party,  and  soon  became  very  obnoxious  to  the  King. 
It  was  at  the  election  in  1620  that  the  King  first  showed  a 
disposition  to  seriously  meddle  in  the  conduct  of  the  affairs 
of  the  company.  It  was  the  intention  of  the  majority  pf  the 
company  to  retain  Sir  Edwin  Sandys  as  treasurer,  with 
whose  administration  they  had  every  reason  to  be  pleased. 
When  the  election  was  about  to  be  taken,  certain  gentlemen 
from  the  King's  household  interrupted  the  proceedings. 
These  gentlemen  declared  that  the  King  was  unalterably  op- 
posed to  the  re-election  of  Sir  Edwin  Sandys,  and  presented 


24  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA. 

four  names  from  whom  a  selection  was  to  be  made.  This 
interruption  was  received  in  a  silence  that  foreboded  the  long 
struggle  tiO  death  that  was  to  come.  It  was  first  demanded 
that  the  King's  messengers  be  sent  out  of  the  room  during 
the  discussion  of  these  matters,  but  the  Earl  of  Southampton 
said,  with  significant  boldness,  "Let  them  stay  and  hear  what 
is  said."  Immediately  there  was  a  cry  made  for  the  reading 
of  the  charter.  "The  charter!  the  charter!  God  save  the 
King!"  When  the  charter  was  read,  some  one  rose  and  said, 
"Mr.  Chairman,  the  words  lof  the  charter  are  plain.  The  elec- 
tion of  a  treasurer  is  left  to  the  free  choice  of  this  company. 
His  Majesty  seems  to  labor  under  some  misunderstanding, 
and  I  doubt  not  these  gentlemen  will  undeceive  him."  Upon 
this  being  reported  to  His  Majesty  there  was  not  lacking  the 
evidence  that  he  was  at  once  seriously  surprised  and  gr^eatly 
perturbed  over  the  course  things  seemed  to  be  takmg.  After 
a  little  delay,  he  sent  back  to  the  meeting  a  rather  mollifying 
statement  that  he  of  course  had  no  desire  to  restrict  the  com- 
pany's choice  to  the  names  he  had  mentioned,  although  he 
would  really  prefer  that  they  should  choose  the  devil  rather 
than  Sir  Edwin  Sandys.  When  the  meeting  was  again  called 
tc  order,  Sandys  withdrew  his  name  and  refused  to  stand  for 
re-election.  On  coming  to  a  ballot  the  vote  was  taken  on 
the  names  the  King  had  sent  in  and  on  the  name  cf  the  Earl 
of  Southampton,  which  the  opposition  had  substituted  in 
Sandys's  stead.  The  result  of  the  ballot  exposed  an  exceed- 
ingly meagre  vote  for  the  King's  candidates,  so  small,  indeed, 
that  some  one  ventured  to  move  that  the  ballot  should  be  dis- 
pensed with  and  that  the  Earl  of  Southampton  should  be 
elected  by  acclamation.  By  the  election  of  Southampton  the 
company  guarded  against  an  open  rupture  with  the  crown, 
but  at  the  same  time  elected  a  man  as  treasurer  who  would 
not  change  the  policy  of  the  company  as  it  had  been  admin- 


A  GREAT  TRUST— THE  LONDON  COMPANY.     25 

istered  by  Sandys.  After  Southampton's  election  the  King's 
hostility  became  even  more  inveterate  and  aggressive.  Nor 
was  his  hatred  softened  or  soothed  by  the  fact  that  in  the 
Parliament  which  he  had  so  summarily  dismissed  in  1622, 
there  were  more  than  one  hundred  members  who  were  also 
members  of  the  London  Company,  many  of  whom  partici- 
pated actively  in  its  affairs. 

In  his  search  for  charges  that  he  might  use  against  the 
company,  and  that  would  give  him  an  excuse  for  the  abridg- 
ing or  the  abrogating  of  these  powers,  a  gentleman  by  the 
name  of  Nathaniel  Butler,  who  had  been  holding  some  official 
position  in  the  Bermudas,  came  to  his  assistance.  This  volu- 
ble gentleman  had  been  summoned  home  to  answer  charges 
concerning  his  official  conduct  in  the  Bermudas,  and  it  well 
behooved  him  to  becloud  the  political  horizon  so  that  in  the 
confusion  attention  might  be  turned  otherwise  than  upon 
himself.  On  his  way  home  from  the  Bermudas  he  stopped 
in  Virginia  for  a  few  months.  It  so  happened  that  his  visit 
fell  at  the  time  of  the  Indian  massacre  in  1622,  and  his  ser- 
vices as  a  soldier  were  called  into  requisition.  On  reaching 
England  he  immediately  gave  out  certain  utterances  unfavor- 
able to  the  Virginia  Colony  and  damaging  to  the  administra- 
tion of  the  London  Company.  The  chaiges  were  made  at 
length  and  given  wide  publicity.  There  were  at  that  time  resi- 
dent in  London  a  number  of  Virginians  intimately  acquainted 
with  the  affairs  of  the  colony.  These  filed  answers  to  the 
charges  in  the  way  of  affidavits  and  other  positive  assevera- 
tions, denying  in  toto  and  in  detail  the  charges.  These  re- 
plies were  not  accepted  by  the  crown,  however,  and  the  op- 
ponents of  the  company  as  being  at  all  satisfactory ;  but  the 
King  at  once  appointed  a  commission,  made  up  of  gentlemen 
known  to  be  in  opposition  to  the  company,  to  report  upon  the 
condition  of  its  affairs.     Some  of  these  commissioners  went 


26  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA. 

to  Virginia  and  undertook,  by  means  fair  or  foul,  to  secure 
evidence  tliat  sliould  corroborate  the  accusations  of  Butler. 
They  went  before  the  Assembly  seeking  an  official  utterance 
upon  the  matter,  even  begging  that  the  Assembly  should  ask 
for  the  abrogation  of  the  charter  of  the  company.  Unfor- 
tunately for  the  commission,  Sir  Thomas  Argall  was  a  mem- 
ber of  it,  and  of  his  misrule  and  misconduct  the  members  of 
the  General  Assembly  had  a  very  distinct  recollection.  The 
commissioners  fiound  at  the  hands  of  the  General  Assembly 
no  encouragement  whatever.  Indeed,  there  was  immediately 
sent  from  Virginia  a  commissioner  who  bore  a  message  to 
the  King  that  the  colonists  were  entirely  satisfied  with  the 
London  Company's  administration,  and  that  rather  than  re- 
turn to  the  conditions  as  they  had  existed  when  Sir  Thomas 
Smythe  was  treasurer,  at  which  time  the  governors  had  been 
appointed  by  royal  favor,  they  asked  that  the  King  would 
send  out  commissioners  and  have  them  hanged.  Before  this 
appeal  from  Virginia  reached  England  two  things  had  been 
done.  The  accusations  of  Butler  had  been  formally  and  of- 
ficially laid  before  the  company,  with  the  demand  that  an 
answer  not  later  than  the  following  IMonday  be  returned,  the 
day  of  the  official  notice  being  Thursd^ay  of  Holy  Week,  1623. 
Nicholas  Ferrar,  to  whom  the  notice  was  handed,  protested 
that  sufficient  time  had  not  been  given  for  a  proper  and  ade- 
quate answer,  but  the  crown  and  officials  insisted  that  the 
answer  must  be  forthcoming  not  later  than  Monday.  Ferrar 
got  together  as  many  members  as  was  possible  that  after- 
noon in  his  mother's  parlor.  The  task  of  framing  the  an- 
swer was  assigned  to  Lord  Cavendish,  Nicholas  Ferrar  and 
Sir  Edwin  Sandys.  Their  answer  was  masterful  and  irre- 
futable, but  little  difference  did  it  make  to  the  King,  bent 
upon  the  destruction  of  the  company.  Moreover,  the  Attor- 
ney-General had  advised  the  crown  that  it  would  be  wise  and 


A  GREAT  TRUST— THE  LONDON  COMPANY.  27 

proper  to  take  away  the  charter  of  the  company,  and  sug- 
gested that  quo  warranto  proceedings  be  immediately  filed. 
When  the  notice  lof  these  proceedings  came  to  the  officers 
of  the  company,  in  their  distress  they  appealed  to  Parliament, 
which  had  just  been  reassembled  by  the  King.     The  petition 
filed  by  the  company  was  looked  upon  favorably  by  many 
members  of  the  House  of  Parliament.     The  King  anticipated 
any  action  on  their  part,  however,  by  sending  a  message  call- 
ing the  attention  of  Parliament  to  the  fact  that  the  business 
of  managing  colonies  belonged  to  the   King  and   his   Privy 
Council,  and  that  it  was  none  of  their  affair,  and  that  there 
must  be  no  meddling  on  their  part.     While  the  Parliament 
was  sympathetic  with  the  company  in  its  effort  to  save  itself, 
it  was  too  much  concerned  in  other  grave  matters^  and  felt 
that  it  could  not  afford  to  have  any  lengthy  imbroglio  with 
the  crown.      So  it  fell  put  that   Parliament  took  no  action, 
except  to  lay  the  appeal  on  the  table.  The  quo  warranto  pro- 
ceedings were  then  rushed  to  a  swift  conclusion.     The  Chief 
Justice,  before  whom  the  matter  was  carried,  ruled  against 
the  company  and  in  favor  of  the  King,  as  everybody  antici- 
pated he  would  do.     W^hether  he  was  influenced  by  the  argu- 
ment of  the  Attorney-General  (that  the  charter  was  defective, 
because,  if  carried  out,  it  might  result  in  the  depopulating  of 
England,  in  that  it  had  the  right  to  ferry  Englishmen  across 
the  seas  and  make  them  settlers  on  a  new  continent,  and  that 
if  this  ferrying  process  could  be  kept  up  long  enough  the  in- 
evitable result  would  be  the  depopulation  of  England  and  the 
destruction  of  all  its  institutions),  or  whether  his  decision  was 
based  upon  some  other  technicality,  does  not  seem  to  have 
been  definitely  ascertained.     At  any  rate,  the  King  proceede.i 
at  once  to  take  away  the  charter  of  the  company.    Notice  was 
sent  to  Nicholas  Ferrar  with  the  demand  that  he  forthwith  de- 
liver over  all  the  papers  and  official  documents,  with  the  re- 


28  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA. 

cords  of  the  company.  Ferrar  was  much  better  prepared  to 
obey  this  order  than  was  anticipated.  So  much  as  a  year  be- 
fore it  had  occurred!  to  him  that  some  such  thing  might  trans- 
pire, and  he  prudently  sought  to  save  duplicate  copies  of  all 
papers  and  records  in  his  keeping.  John  Ferrar,  his  brother, 
wrote :  "About  a  year  before  the  dissolution  of  the  company 
(June,  1623)  Mr.  Nicholas  Ferrar,  suspecting  that  the  com- 
pany's records  would  be  finally  concealed  or  destroyed,  pro- 
cured an  expert  clerk  fairly  to  copy  out  all  the  court  books 
and  all  other  writing  belonging  to  them,  and  caused  them  all 
to  be  carefully  collated  with  the  originals  and  afterwards  at- 
tested upon  oath  by  the  examiners  to  be  true  copies,  the 
transcribing  of  which  cost  him  out  of  his  own  pocket  fifty 
pounds,  but  this  he  thought  one  of  the  best  services  he  could 
do  the  company."  This  account  of  John  Ferrar  seems  to  dis- 
pose of  the  very  pretty  story  that  these  documents  and  papers 
were  copied  in  a  very  short  time  after  the  demand  was  made 
for  them.  These  copies  entered  into  the  hands  of  the  Earl 
of  Southampton.  After  both  Southampton  and  his  son  and 
successor  had  passed  away,  these  precious  manuscripts  were 
bought  from  the  executor  of  the  estate  by  William  Byrd,  of 
Virginia.  From  the  hands  of  the  Byrd  family  they  passed  to 
William  Stith,  president  of  William  and  Mary  College, 
From  the  possession  of  Stith  the  manuscripts  went  next  to 
Peyton  Randolph,  and  after  his  death  they  were  secured  by 
Thomas  Jefferson,  and  when  the  Library  of  the  United 
States  bought  the  library  of  Jefferson,  these  manuscripts  were 
included.  The  original  documents  are  nowhere  to  be  found 
among  the  British  records.  It  is  to  these  preserved  manu- 
scripts that  we  are  indebted  for  our  knowledge  concerning 
these  interesting  incidents  in  American  history. 

Though  the  London  Company  was  no  longer  to  manage 
the  Virginia  Colony,  its  work  had  been  too  thoroughly  well 


A  GREAT  TRUST— THE  LONDON  COMPANY.  29 

done  to  be  defeated  even  by  such  rude  and  harsh  proceedings 
as  these.  The  colonists  were  still  permitted  to  hold  sessions 
of  the  General  Assembly  and  make  laws  for  their  own  gov- 
ernment. The  governors  appointed  by  the  crown  were  not 
always  to  their  liking,  to  be  sure,  but  in  the  main  were  suc- 
cessfully held  in  check  and  under  control  by  the  General  As- 
sembly, commonly  called  the  House  of  Burgesses. 

The  splendid  work  of  the  London  Company  cannot  pos- 
sibly be  exaggerated.  Mistakes  were,  of  course,  often  made. 
Oftentimes,  especially  at  the  outset,  there  was  petulance  and 
impatience  over  the  slow  development  of  the  colony.  Great 
outlays  of  money  and  time  were  being  made,  and  from  their 
preconceived  notion  of  things,  it  was  only  natural  that  they 
should  expect  and  demand  some  substantial  return.  When, 
however,  in  the  course  of  the  years  the  dreams  that  had  cast 
a  glamor  over  the  early  undertakings  were  shattered  and  dis- 
sipated, and  the  company  was  made  to  realize  that  though 
much  which  they  had  set  out  to  accomplish  was  impossible 
and  could  not  be  achieved,  still  much,  after  all  incomparably 
better,  might  be  accomplished,  with  a  very  high  and  un- 
selfish patriotism  the  company  lent  itself  in  every  way  pos- 
sible to  the  preservation  of  the  colony.  History  furnishes  no 
finer  example  of  English  courage  and  stubbornness  than  was 
exhibited  in  the  devotion  of  this  company  to  the  great  task 
of  colonizing  with  Englishmen  the  western  continent.  In  the 
celebration  of  the  first  permanent  settlement  at  Jamestown, 
a  large  place  is  well  deserved  by  this  company  in  the  com- 
memoration of  the  great  events  and  institutions  incident  to 
the  settlement  in  Virginia.  But  for  the  stubborn  persistency 
and  unswerving  devotion  of  this  company,  even  after  it  had 
been  realized  that  there  never  could  be  any  adequate  financial 
returns,  the  colony  would  soon  have  perished  out  of  the  sight 
of  man.  Too  much  honor  cannot  possibly  be  given  to  this 
splendid  organization  of  the  Englishmen  of  the  seventeenth 
century, 


CHAPTER  III. 

REASONS  FOR  COLONIZATION. 

A  study  lof  the  motives  back  of  American  colonization  will 
be,  at  this  early  juncture,  pertinent  and  profitable.  It  has 
been  before  remarked  that  this  was  the  era  of  the  renaissance 
of  letters,  of  reformation  in  religion,  and  of  colonization. 
Under  these  stimulating  influences  the  horizon  of  the  people 
had  become  wonderfully  broadened,  and  the  world  had  become 
wonderfully  enlarged.  There  were  no  stories  so  interesting 
as  those  of  adventure  and  exploration.  No  form  of  literature 
appealed  to  the  people  as  did  the  narratives  of  travelers  and 
discoverers.  Rude  maps  and  charts  of  ancient  and  distant 
countries  became  most  interesting  and  exciting.  Tracts  on 
the  subject  of  colonization  were  circulated  and  received  with 
almost  religious  fervor.  The  dramatists  of  the  day  added 
piquancy  and  interest  to  their  plays  by  adroitly  incorporating 
incidents  and  allusions  to  colonization.  Some  serious  ser- 
mons were  preached  to  show  that  by  means  of  colonies  the 
Christian  world  had  a  great  opportunity  for  the  spread  of 
the  gospel.  The  most  effective  piece  of  literature  on  the  sub- 
ject was  a  production  of  Mr.  Hakluyt,  known  as  a  "Discourse 
on  Western  Planting."  Hakluyt's  paper  was  Vv^ritten  after 
the  return  from  the  coasts  of  North  Carolina  of  the  two  ships 
which  Raleigh  had  first  sent  out,  bringing  wonderful  stories 
of  the  beauty  and  fertility  of  the  new  land.  It  was  intended 
as  an  appeal  to  the  mind  of  Queen  Elizabeth,  so  as  to  engage 
her  co-operation  in  future  colonizing  schemes.     The  raison 

10 


REASONS  FOR  COLONIZATION.  31 

d'etre  of  this  almost  universal  interest  in  colonization  will 
be  found  in  the  existing  condition  of  things  at  that  time,  and 
these  will  disclose  the  motives  of  American  colonization. 

Enlarged  geographical  knowledge  had  not  dislodged  from 
the  minds  of  the  adventurers  of  the  day  the  belief  that  the 
American  continent  would  furnish  a  short  passage  to  the 
East  Indies.  This  notion  was  persisted  in  long  after  it  should 
have  been  clear  to  every  sane  mind  that  there  was  no  pos- 
sible ground  for  its  existence.  The  seventeenth  century  was 
well  advanced  before  the  idea  was  given  over,  and  until  this 
time  it  must  be  regarded  as  one  of  the  dominant  motives  in 
efforts  at  American  colonization. 

Since,  by  reason  of  political  complications,  the  overland 
route  to  India  had  been  cut  off  by  the  Turks,  and  Portugal 
and  Holland  having,  in  a  great  measure,  the  control  of  the 
trade  around  the  south  of  Africa,  there  had  been  the  persistent 
dream  that  a  route  might  be  found  over  which  England  would 
have  complete  control,  and  that  all  the  commodities  and  luxu- 
ries from  India  used  in  England  could  be  brought  in  English 
vessels.  Every  expedition  and  colonizing  enterprise  carried 
official  instruction  that  search  be  made  for  the  passage  to  the 
South  Seas. 

Serious  minded  men  with  pencil  and  paper  had  made 
demonstrations  that  this  passage,  without  a  doubt,  existed. 
George  Best  declared  that  "the  only  thing  in  the  world  left 
undone  whereby  a  notable  mind  might  be  made  famous  and 
fortunate,"  was  the  discovery  of  the  route  to  the  South  Seas. 
It  was  the  passionate  purpose  of  the  adventurer  of  the  day 
to  find  that  passage.  The  spirit  of  adventure  turned  toward 
this  passage  as  the  same  spirit  of  our  day  seeks  stubbornly 
the  North  Pole.  Ralph  Lane  understood  the  Indian  to  say 
that  the  Roanoke  River  sprang  from  a  rock  so  close  to  the 


32  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA. 

sea  that  oftentimes  in  storms  its  waters  were  made  brackish 
by  the  beating  in  of  the  waves  of  the  sea. 

At  the  time  John  Smith  was  captured  by  the  Indians  he 
was  looking  for  this  passage  to  the  East  Indies  in  the  Chick- 
ahominy  Swamp.  Hudson,  in  his  fear  that  somebody  would 
be  ahead  of  him,  left  home  aforetime,  and  against  instruction, 
sailed  up  the  Hudson  River,  believing  confidently  that  that 
noble  stream  would  disclose  to  him  the  long  sought  passage. 
Mr.  Hakluyt  entertained  a  fear  lest  the  nearness  of  Florida 
to  the  Pacific  Ocean  would  become  too  commonly  known.  A 
writer  by  the  name  of  Briggs,  quoted  in  Waterhouse's  decla- 
ration, and  likewise  quoted  by  Mr.  Purchas,  said,  "The  Indian 
Ocean,  which  we  commonly  call  the  South  Sea,  lieth  on  the 
west  and  northwest  side  of  Virginia  on  the  other  side  of  the 
mountain  beyond  our  Falls  (James  River)  and  openeth  into 
a  free  passage."  So  late  as  1669  Lederer,  the  distinguished 
German  explorer,  spoke  very  hopefully  concerning  the  prox- 
imity of  the  Pacific  Ocean  to  the  North  Carolina  coast. 

When  the  hope  of  finding  this  route  by  some  waterway 
was  given  over,  then  it  was  suggested  that  a  land  route  might 
be  discovered  which  would  answer  all  practical  purposes. 
Very  few  of  the  explorers  had  any  other  idea  but  that  the 
American  continent  was  a  comparatively  narrow  strip  of  land. 
John  Smith  seemed,  however,  to  have  reached  a  conclusion, 
somewhat  vague  it  is  true,  that  the  continent  extended  in- 
ward many  hundreds  of  miles.  However,  for  a  long  time  it 
was  hoped  that  by  means  of  colonization  this  passage,  either 
by  land  or  by  water,  might  at  last  be  discovered. 

The  next  motive  may  be  regarded  as  an  economic  one. 
The  peculiar  agricultural  conditions  of  the  day  had  brought 
about  a  changed  order  in  English  society.  The  demand  for 
wool  had  become  so  great  and  the  prices  were  so  high  that 
no  other  fiorm  of  agriculture  afforded  such  large  returns  as 


REASONS   FOR   COLONIZATION.  33 

sheep  raising.  The  attention  of  the  English  farmer  was 
largely  turned  in  this  direction.  Vast  areas  of  land  that  had 
hitherto  been  subdivided  many  times  and  distributed  among 
the  peasant  and  poorer  classes  for  agricultural  purposes  were 
now  devoted  entirely  to  the  pasturing  of  vast  flocks  of  sheep. 
This  resulted  not  only  in  throwing  out  of  work  a  large  num- 
ber of  people  hitherto  employed,  but  in  the  diminishing  of  the 
food  products  of  the  country.  Soil  that  had  been  devoted 
to  the  cultivation  of  foodstuffs  was  now  devoted  to  sheep 
raising.  The  unemployed  became  a  pauper  class,  dependent 
either  upon  the  bounty  of  the  church  or  of  the  state.  When 
the  church  properties  were  confiscated,  the  church  had  no 
means  of  affording  charities,  and  it  came  about,  therefore, 
that  the  entire  burden  of  the  support  of  these  pauper  classes 
was  thrown  upon  the  state.  It  thus  became  one  of  the  grave 
and  urgent  problems  of  the  day  as  to  hovs^  to  provide  for  these 
vast  hordes  of  unemployed  people.  To  thoughtful  economists 
cf  the  day,  colonization  seemed  to  offer  a  solution  to  the 
problem.  It  was  ably  urged  that  b}^  the  establishment  01 
these  colonies  England  would  be  relieved  of  its  superfluous 
population,  and  employment  would  be  given  to  all  the  idle 
and  needy  classes  of  people.  This  condition  of  things  will 
explain  why  it  v^^as  not  very  difficult  to  secure  emigrants  for 
the  experiment  of  colonization.  It  will  also  explain  the  char- 
acter of  many  of  those  who  made  up  the  first  expeditions  to 
America. 

The  commercial  motive,  as  is  always  the  case,  was  one  of 
the  strongest  and  most  persistent  influences  of  the  day.  Some 
cf  the  leading  and  most  successful  merchants  of  the  sixteenth 
and  seventeenth  centuries  became  interested  in  these  move- 
ments. The  commercial  side  appealed  especially  to  Sir  Hum- 
phrey Gilbert.  The  enterprising  and  far-seeing  merchantmen 
desired  to  open  up  other  markets  for  the  products  of  England. 


34  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA. 

Mr.  Hakluyt  called  their  attention  to  the  increase  of  English 
wealth  as  the  result  of  the  market  which  was  found  in  the 
Netherlands  for  English  commodities.  This  instance  was 
cited  as  an  example  of  what  might  be  done  in  America.  It 
was  further  apprehended  that  certain  commodities  that  Eng- 
land constantly  stood  in  need  of  might  be  produced  and  fur- 
nished by  America.  Exaggerated  ideas  concerning  the  re- 
sourcefulness and  fertility  of  the  country  had  been  engen- 
dered by  the  reports  of  various  expeditions.  It  was  seriously 
thought  that  all  the  things  that  had  hitherto  come  from  India 
might  be  grown  on  the  soil  and  under  the  skies  of  what  was 
then  believed  a  tropical  America.  If  products  formerly  ob" 
tainable  only  from  India  could  be  procured  from  America  and 
under  English  control,  it  was  wisely  concluded  that  vast  ad- 
vantages would  be  secured  to  the  English  people.  It  was 
thiought  to  be  a  grievous  matter  that  England  should  be  com- 
pelled to  spend  her  money  in  buying  wines  and  silks  from 
southern  Europe  and  forced  to  secure  her  naval  stores  from 
the  Baltic,  and  it  was  confidently  expected  that  these  things 
might  be  easily  secured  with  proper  care  and  cultivation  from 
America. 

Mixed  with  these  commercial  mjotives  was  the  strong 
conviction  that  the  country  was  rich  in  precious  metals.  The 
stories  that  had  come  up  concerning  the  vast  wealth  of  South 
America  and  ]\Iexico  in  these  metals  had  long  interested  and 
excited  the  English  people.  In  the  play  called  "Eastward 
Ho"  there  is  an  exuberant  mention  made  of  the  supposed 
richness  of  America  in  gold,  silver  and  precious  stones.  One 
of  the  characters  is  made  to  say,  'T  tell  thee,  gold  is  more 
plentiful  in  Virginia  than  copper  is  with  us,  and  for  so  much 
red  copper  as  I  can  bring  I  will  have  thrice  its  weight  in  gold. 
All  their  dripping  pans  are  of  pure  gold,  and  all  the  prisoners 
they  take  are  fettered  in  gold;  and  for  rubies  and  diamonds 


REASONS   FOR  COLONIZATION.  35 

they  go  forth  on  holida3's  and  gather  them  by  the  seashores 
to  hang  on  their  children's  coats  and  to  pin  in  their  children's 
caps,  as  commonly  as  our  children  wear  saffron  gilt  brooches 
engrossed  with  holes  in  them."  This  seems  a  most  grotesque 
extravaganza,  but  it  greatly  stirred  the  people,  and  is  scarcely 
less  lurid  than  the  tidings  that  came  from  the  sober  leaders 
in  the  settlement  at  Jamestown.  Edward  Maria  Wingfield 
wrote  from  Virginia  urging  that  succor  be  immediately  sent, 
"lest  the  all-devouring  Spaniards  lay  their  hands  upon  the 
gold-showing  mountains,  which,  if  I  be  so  enabled,  they  shall 
never  dare  to  think  of."  The  yellow  sides  of  the  rising  hills 
they  seemed  to  think  were  filled  with  gold.  In  their  frenzy 
they  not  only  loaded  one  ship  with  sand  that  glistened,  but 
would  have  loaded  another  a  little  later  with  the  same  stuff 
had  it  not  been  for  the  strong  advice  of  the  level-headed 
Smith,  who  somehow  had  got  the  notion  that  a  cargo  of  cedar 
logs  would  be  more  valuable  than  a  shipload  of  the  yellow 
dirt  that  they  were  sending  to  their  patrons  in  England. 

In  order  to  keep  interested  the  people  back  of  the  enter- 
prise in  England,  there  were  no  pains  spared  to  make  it  ap- 
pear that  gold  was  easily  accessible,  and  that  very  soon  the 
colonists  would  be  digging  it  out  by  the  spadeful.  They 
wrote  home  in  this  fashion:  "No  talk,  no  hope,  no  work;  but 
dig  gold,  wash  gold,  refine  gold,  load  gold." 

As  an  indication  of  the  firm  belief  in  the  mineral  wealth 
of  Virginia,  one  has  only  to  recall  that  King  James  always 
reserved  for  himself  in  every  charter  one-fifth  of  the  value 
of  such  metals  as  might  be  found.  So  for  very  many  years 
it  was  a  part  of  the  business  of  thee  olony  to  make  immediate 
and  diligent  search  for  mines  of  gold  and  silver.  If  an  Indian 
Vv^as  seen  with  any  ornament  that  suggested  silver  or  gold, 
he  was  immediately  entreated  to  disclose  the  whereabout  of 
mines.     If  an  Indian  offered  up  many  remarks  concerning  a 


36  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA. 

piece  of  copper  which  he  wore,  the  colonists  understood  him 
to  say  that  there  were  inexhaustible  supplies  of  a  metal  like 
copper,  but  softer  and  heavier,  and  they  resorted  to  every 
expedient  to  ascertain  the  whereabouts  of  these  mines. 

It  will  be  seen  a  little  later  on  that  this  commercial  mo- 
tive did  not  go  altogether  unrewarded  and  unrealized,  but 
in  a  direction  hitherto  totally  unexpected  and  even  unimag- 
ined.  Gradually  it  began  to  dawn  upon  the  minds  of  the 
leaders  in  these  great  colonizing  schemes  that  there  must 
be  a  disappointment  in  the  realization  of  the  original  desires 
and  plans  in  connection  with  American  colonization,  so  that 
the  motives  explained  above  gradually  gave  way  to  the  saner 
commercial  views  looking  to  the  building  up  of  a  colonial 
empire  for  England. 

From  the  outset  it  was  thought  that  the  occupancy  of 
America  by  the  English  would  put  a  stop  to  the  aggrandize- 
ment and  encroachments  of  Spain.  To  plant  upon  the  shores 
of  America,  at  suitable  distances,  colonies,  would  be  to  se- 
cure strong  strategic  advantages  in  the  matter  of  outposts 
that  should  stand  in  the  way  of  any  aggressive  movement 
on  the  part  of  their  inveterate  enemy.  Spain,  under  Philip 
the  Second,  was  the  dread  of  England,  and  Raleigh,  above 
all  Englishmen,  saw  the  necessity  of  weakening  Spanish 
power  in  America.  And  even  after  the  power  of  Spain  was 
so  utterly  broken  as  to  be  no  longer  dreaded  by  England, 
this  patriotic  motive  remained,  but  sought  expression  along 
broader  and  more  unselfish  lines.  When,  therefore,  distin- 
guished captains  of  industry  were  discouraged  in  their  work 
of  colonization  and  were  disposed  to  surrender  all  leadership, 
there  were  other  hands  outstretched,  willing  to  assume  such 
grave  responsibilities.  Back  of  these  hands  were  English 
pride  and  English  determination  that  these  colonizing  schemes 
in  America  should  not  be  permitted  to  fail,  and,  more  than 


REASONS   FOR  COLONIZATION.  37 

that,  that  they  should  became  beacon  fires  of  human  liberty 
in  a  new  land.  But  for  the  operation  of  this  high  motive, 
the  effort  would  have  inevitably  failed.  With  this  patriotic 
motive  was  also  associated  a  religious  motive. 

In  the  document  prepared  by  Mr.  Hakluyt,  and  which 
was  addressed  to  Queen  Elizabeth,  there  is  made  this  state- 
ment: "The  western  discovery  will  be  greatly  for  the  en- 
largement of  the  Gospel  of  Christ,  wherewith  the  princes  of 
the  reformed  religion  are  chiefly  bound,  among  whom  Her 
Majesty  is  the  principal." 

The  most  conspicuous  leaders  in  the  agitation  with  refer- 
ence to  colonization  were  among  the  clergymen  of  the  Church 
cf  England.  Hakluyt,  from  whom  we  have  made  such  fre- 
quent quotations,  Symonds,  Purchas  and  Crashaw  were  es- 
pecially useful  and  effective.  It  cannot  be  doubted  but  that 
at  the  first  there  was  mixed  with  the  motive  the  fear  of  Cath- 
olic rule  in  America.  The  authorities  in  the  church  looked 
with  great  alarm  upon  the  slow  encroachments  of  the  Span- 
iards along  the  coast  from  Florida,  knowing  full  well  that 
Spanish  occupancy  meant  Catholic  supremacy.  It  was  too 
soon  after  Henry  VIII.  and  the  Reformation  for  the  new 
Church  of  England  to  vievv^  with  any  sort  of  satisfaction  the 
advancement  of  the  old  mother  church.  Hence  it  is  not  un- 
reasonable to  suspect  that  much  of  the  religious  fervor  at  the 
outset  was  more  for  the  purpose  of  thwarting  the  Catholics 
than  it  was  for  real  advancement  of  Christianity.  It  must 
be  said,  however,  that  this  motive  became  more  mixed  as  the 
years  wore  on,  and  that  there  was  developed  a  very  genuine 
leligious  enthusiasm  over  the  conversion  of  the  aborigines. 
Some  one  has  truly  said  that  the  English  Church  caught  its 
first  missionary  impulse  in  the  effort  to  evangelize  the  In- 
dians. From  time  to  time  kidnapped  aborigines  had  been 
brought  over  to  England,  and  the  sight  of  their  naked  and 


38  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA. 

igniorant  savagery  greatly  appealed  to  the  people.  "Naked 
slaves  of  the  devil"  they  were  called,  in  the  mild  terms  of  the 
day. 

Very  early  in  the  effort  at  colonization,  provision  was 
made  for  the  conversion  and  education  of  the  Indian  youth. 
It  was  planned  to  build  schools  in  which  the  Indian  youths 
were  to  be  educated,  and  where  they  were  to  be  brought 
under  Christian  influences.  It  was  even  suggested  that  a 
number  of  these  youths  might  be  educated  and  trained  in 
the  Christian  faith  in  England  and  then  returned  to  their  na- 
tive land  to  preach  the  Gospel.  Compensation  was  offered 
to  all  who  would  take  Indian  youths  into  their  afmilies  and 
surround  them  with  an  atmosphere  favorable  to  religion. 

This  zeal  was  somewhat  abated  by  the  bitter  animosities 
that  gradually  sprung  up  between  the  Indians  and  the  colo- 
nists. However  zealous  the  promoters  of  the  cause  might 
have  been,  it  was  very  hard  to  preserve  any  enthusiasm  among 
those  who  lived  nearest  to  the  Indians.  The  massacre  of 
1622  created  such  a  deep  and  widespread  hatred  of  the  In- 
dians that  it  was  difficult  to  find  anywhere  serious  desire  and 
purpose  to  reach  them  with  the  Gospel,  so  that  gradually  the 
missionary  zeal  oozed  out. 

To  us  in  our  day  the  deep  religiousness  of  the  English- 
men of  the  seventeenth  century  is  somewhat  amusing.  The 
incongruities  oi  the  situation  were  numerous  and  striking. 
Along  with  the  most  outrageous  and  iniquitous  conduct  their 
religion  went  openly  hand  in  hand,  not  only  acquiescing  in 
the  wicked  causes,  but  even  advancing  them.  Admiral  Drake, 
in  those  piratical  cruises  in  which  the  seas  were  pilfered  of 
their  treasure  and  made  red  with  the  blood  of  his  hapless  vic- 
tims, carried  with  him  always  pious  chaplains  and  observed 
regular  ho^trs  for  service  and  worship,  and  made  constant  ap- 
peals to  heaven  for  divine  guidance  and  help  in  his  nefarious 
work.  _    , 


REASONS   FOR  COLONIZATION.  39 

Frequently  the  relation  of  the  early  settlers  with  the  In- 
dians exhibited  the  same  incongruity.  There  was  a  most 
unconscious  admixture  of  religion  and  unjust  and  hard  cruel- 
ties. As  it  were  they  would  set  out  to  evangelize  the  Indian 
with  the  Bible  in  one  hand  and  the  gun  in  the  other.  One 
is  made  to  wonder  if  savage  shrewdness  did  not  discover  the 
inconsistency  of  the  situation,  and  if  it  may  not  have  been 
that  this  w^as  one  reason  why  the  wily  Indian  was  so  slow 
in  committing  himself  to  the  religion  of  the  pale-faced  Eng- 
lishmen. However  this  may  be,  it  remains  true  that  among 
the  motives  inspiring  and  maintaining  the  colonization  of 
America  was  the  strong  and  steadfast  motive  of  rtligion. 

If  in  considering  the  reasons  for  colonization  one  recalls 
that  the  spirit  of  adventure  was  at  its  height,  he  will  at  once 
understand  the  eager  responsiveness  of  the  day  to  these  ap- 
peals for  colonization.  The  air  was  filled  with  the  stories  of 
strange  seas  and  shores;  of  the  storehouses  of  wealth  that 
were  to  be  had  if  discovered,  and  it  was  confidently  beHeved 
that  any  expedition  might  soon  return  home  laden  with 
the  infinite  treasures  of  these  unknown  shores.  And  so  on 
every  hand  there  was  this  national  alertness  and  this  daring 
spirit  of  adventure,  ready  to  enlist  in  any  enterprise  of  ex- 
I-loration  and  discovery. 

A  study  of  these  motives  will  reveal  the  fact  that  some 
of  them  lacked  the  quality  of  stability,  and  it  was  this  aualitv 
that  characterized  at  the  outset  the  first  attempts  to  settle 
Virginia.  The  colonists  came  with  no  expectation  of  making 
a  permanent  residence  on  these  shores.  Chiefly  in  evidence 
were  the  motives  that  urged  the  finding  of  the  northern  pas- 
sage, and  the  discovery  of  gold  and  silver.  It  is  easy,  there- 
fore, to  see  that  these  things,  instead  of  promoting  stability, 
added  to  the  confusion  and  the  delay  of  permanent  settle- 
ment.   Time  and  energy  were  wasted  in  fruitless  exploration 


40   ■  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA. 

and  in  the  futile  endeavor  to  secure  treasure.  Had  this  time 
and  energ-y  been  turned  in  the  direction  of  cultivating  the 
soil  and  building  homes,  the  colony  would  have  been  saved 
untiold  misery,  and  would  have  found  permanent  establish- 
ment many  years  sooner  than  it  did.  This  is  one  of  the  dis- 
tinctions to  be  made  between  the  settlement  at  Plymouth 
Rock  and  the  settlement  at  Jamestown.  The  colonists  at 
Plymouth  Rock  came  with  a  very  determined  purpose  to 
make  for  themselves  new  homes  in  the  western  continent, 
where  they  could  have  a  form  of  worship  according  to  their 
own  views.  They  brought  with  them  all  of  those  domestic 
accessories  that  would  contribute  to  the  realization  of  this 
purpose,  and  immediately  on  landing  they  set  themselves 
about  permanent  establishment,  and  it  is  said  of  them  that 
not  one  of  the  company  ever  went  back  to  England. 

Not  until  the  vagaries  connected  with  the  finding  of  the 
northern  passage  and  the  dreams  of  gold  and  silver  were 
shattered  and  dissipated  by  the  stern  realities  of  colonial  life 
did  these  Virginia  settlers  begin  to  address  them.selves  to 
the  situation  in  such  ways  that  meant  their  permanent  es- 
tablishment. Not  until  b;^  the  cultivation  of  tobacco  it  was 
discovered  that  a  product  equal  in  value  to  gold  and  silver 
might  be  grown  and  easily  marketed  at  exorbitant  prices  did 
these  settlers  begin  to  feel  that  it  was  worth  while  to  build 
homes  for  themselves  and  to  count  on  remaining  permanently 
lOn  Virginia  soil. 

Another  m.otive  just  beginning  to  stir  into  life,  scarcely 
affecting  the  first  expeditions  to  Virginia,  became  more  and 
more  assertive  in  the  English  life  of  the  seventeenth  century 
and  grew  in  the  course  of  years  to  be  the  strongest  of  all 
the  motives  that  brought  people  to  the  American  shores. 
Gradually  a  growing  dissatisfaction  with  the  Stuart  kings, 
and  an  increasing  divergence  of  opinion  concerning  the  divine 


REASONS   FOR   COLONIZATION.  41 

right  of  kings,  came  to  permeate  the  lives  of  the  EngHsh 
people.  From  time  to  time  there  came  to  Virginia  men  who 
dreamed  of  a  larger  liberty  and  a  larger  chance  of  life,  holding 
perhaps  in  abeyance  the  thoughts  and  dreams  that  stirred 
their  bosoms.  This  motive  became  crystallized  into  the  move- 
ment of  the  Puritans  and  the  Pilgrims.  How  rapidly  the  idea 
spread,  and  how  strong  and  successful  the  motive  became, 
the  thousands  that  followed  swiftly  upon  the  heels  of  the 
Mayflower  bear  significant  testimony.  The  entire  settlement 
of  the  New  England  coast  came  about  through  the  insistence 
of  this  motive,  and  may  be  taken  as  a  protest  against  the 
doctrine  of  the  aivine  right  of  kings.  How  impossible  it  was 
to  resist  the  march  and  evolution  of  this  new  idea  is  abun- 
dantly witnessed  by  its  growth  among  the  Virginia  settlers 
^in  spite  of  unpropitious  surroundings,  and  by  the  lead  and 
stand  of  Virginians  in  its  behalf  in  after  years. 


CHAPTER  IV. 
JOHN  SMITH,  THE  HERO  OF  JAMESTOWN. 

The  little  fleet  of  three  ships  that  sailed  away  from  England 
on  the  last  day  of  the  year  1606  did  not  reach  Virginia  until 
spring  of  the  year  following.  They  had  stopped  at  the  Canaries 
for  two  weeks  for  barter  and  rest.  The  first  landing  was 
made  on  April  26,  1607,  at  Cape  Henry,  where  a  cross  was 
set  up  and  fitting  religious  ceremonies  observed.  Moving 
leisurely  up  the  coast  from  Cape  Henry,  the  first  stop  was 
at  Lynnhaven  Bay,  where  the  colonists  had  their  first  en- 
counter with  the  Indians.  It  seems  that  these  Indians  were 
surprised  at  an  oyster  roast,  and  were  driven  away  only  after 
some  serious  resistance.  It  was  permitted  the  voyagers  to 
regale  themselves  for  the  first  time  with  the  Lynnhaven  oys- 
ter, which  is  "facile  princeps"  of  all  the  crustaceans.  Cer- 
tainly never  before — it  is  to  be  seriously  doubted  if  ever  after- 
ward— had  they  tasted  such  oysters  as  they  dug  out  of  the 
lOdsting  heap  that  the  Indians  had  piled  and  baked  together. 

The  course  of  the  colonists  probably  led  them  next  to  the 
point  now  known  as  Newport  News.  Here  they  were  met  by 
an  Indian  chief,  offering  welcome  and  hospitality,  and  giving 
every  assurance  of  friendliness  on  the  part  of  his  peop'e. 
Moving  up  the  river,  which  they  named  James  in  honor  of 
the  King,  the  settlers  finally  reached,  on  May  13,  1607,  the 
peninsula  On  which  they  landed  and  began  to  build  a  town 
which  they  called  James  City.  If  we  may  believe  the  story 
of  their  voyage,  it  was  one  of  storm,  both  without  and  within. 

42 


JOHN  SMITH,  THE  HERO  OF  JAMESTOWN.     43 

'From  the  beginning  there  was  strife,  jealousy  and  suspicion 
among  those  who  were  destined  to  be  the  leaders  in  the  new 
colony.  Among  the  passengers  was  one  John  Smith.  There 
•vvas  something  in  his  manner  and  speech  that  was  offensive 
to  the  leading  spirits  .of  the  expedition.  There  was  a  certam 
confidence  in  his  bearing,  much  volubility  and  boldness  in 
his  speech  that  was  exasperating.  So  acute  did  the  situation 
become  during  the  voyage  across  the  Atlantic  that  this  Eng- 
li.shman  was  finally  put  under  arrest,  and  under  this  shadow 
he  landed  at  Jamestown. 

The  story  of  his  life  hitherto  corroborates  the  old  saying 
that  "truth  is  stranger  than  fiction."  The  story  related  by 
himself  is  exceedingly  exciting  and  romantic.  It  would  have 
been  more  easily  believed  if  it  had  been  put  on  record  by 
other  hands  than  his  own.     It  runs  something  like  this: 

When  but  a  youth  he  ran  away  from  his  home,  carrying 
with  him  his  trifling  belongings,  and  entered  upon  a  wonder- 
ful career  of  adventure.  While  a  mere  lad  he  was  ship- 
wrecked, and  again,  according  to  his  own  account,  he  was 
lobbed  at  sea.  He  became  a  tramp  and  wanderer  through 
France,  where  being  attacked  and  robbed,  he  was  left  half 
dead  and  exceedingly  near  to  perishing.  Meeting  this  same 
horde  of  bandits  later  on,  he  reaped  swift  vengeance  by  slay- 
ing some  of  them.  While  on  a  ship  carrying  devout  Catholics 
tiO  the  Easter  celebrations  at  Rome,  he  was  thrown  overboard 
in  order  to  appease  a  most  furious  storm  for  which  his  hereti- 
cal person  was  held  responsible.  Whatever  became  of  the 
pious  Christian  voyagers  after  their  most  alarming  experience, 
is  not  known.  Smith  himself  partly  floated  and  partly  swam 
to  a  desolate  island.  From  this  island  he  was  rescued  b}^  a 
passing  ship.  While  on  this  ship  there  was  an  encounter  with 
a  Venetian  argosy,  and  after  a  bloody  conflict,  in  which  he 


44  COLONIAL   VIRGINIA. 

was  conspicuous,  the  argosy  was  captured  and  its  treasury- 
distributed  between  those  engaged  in  the  battle. 

Later  on  he  joined  the  Germans,  who  were  engaged  in  a 
fierce  war  against  the  Turks.  As  a  soldier  in  the  army  pi 
Prince  Sigismund,  he  had  a  memorable  experience  with  three 
Turks  who  were  the  champions  of  the  Turkish  armies.  In 
this  encounter  he  slew  first  one  and  then  another,  and  stili 
another  of  the  Turks,  who,  in  turn,  engaged  him  in  duel. 
This  exploit  commanded  for  him  at  once  the  favor  of  the  Ger- 
man army,  and  especially  of  Prince  Sigismund,  who  made 
him  a  present  of  a  handsome  purse,  and  w"ho  afterwards 
gave  him  a  patent  of  nobility,  the  coat-of-arms  of  which  was 
a  shield  upon  which  were  emblazoned  three  Turks'  heads, 
commemorating  the  combat  with  the  three  Turks  of  the  Mo- 
hammedan forces. 

Some  time  after  this  engaging  pastime,  in  a  most  disas- 
t'^ous  battle  with  the  Turks,  he  was  captured  and-  publicly 
sc'ld  as  a  slave  in  the  streets  of  Gonstantinople.  He  was 
bought  by  a  Turkish  lady  of  rank,  and  whether  true  or  not. 
Smith  imagined  that  this  same  lady  became  greatly  enamored 
of  him.  For  some  reason  or  other,  the  husband  of  this  fair 
lady  must  have  shared  in  Smith's  imaginings,  for  Smith  was 
tiansported  and  subjected  to  the  care  of  a  tender  brother-in- 
law  who  lived  on  the  boundaries  of  the  Caspian  Sea.  For 
reasons  that  were  not  explained  to  Smith,  he  was  cruelly 
treated,  and  again  and  again  was  wickedly  beaten  at  the 
pleasure  and  caprice  'of  the  aforesaid  brpther-in-law.  It 
turned  out,  however,  that  one  day  it  came  to  be  Smith's  turn 
at  the  occupation  of  threshing,  and  the  flail  which  had  been 
used  for  beating  out  the  wheat  was  employed  by  him  in 
pounding  out  the  brains  lof  his  hard  master.  Seizing  the 
lorse  of  his  deceased  lord,  with  little  ceremony  and  less  de- 
lay, he  rode  away  toward  the  Russian  realm,  and  after  some 


JOHN  SMITH,  THE  HERO  OF  JAMESTOWN.     45 

weeks  of  wandering  and  unutterable  suffering,  he  reached 
a  refuge  of  safety,  from  which  he  came  to  England  just  at 
the  time  that  Gosnold  and  others  were  busy  in  the  preparation 
of  the  expedition  to  Virginia. 

Whether  one  accepts  the  truthfulness  of  these  stories  re- 
lated above  depends  largely  upon  one's  point  of  view.  For- 
tunately for  Smith,  the  most  exciting  and  unlikely  of  the  in- 
cidents narrated  is  corroborated  by  other  and  older  records 
tJian  his  own.  The  story  of  the  encounter  with  the  Turks 
and  the  subsequent  reward  on  the  part  of  Sigismund  are 
matters  that  had  gone  on  record  before  Smith's  relations  con- 
ctrning  them  had  been  made  public.  In  all  fairness,  it  would 
seem  that  there  are  three  considerations  that  should  deter- 
mine one's  posture  in  this  contention.  First  of  all,  Smith's 
personal  character  seems  to  have  been  far  above  the  average 
type  of  morality  in  his  day.  It  is  testified  of  him  that  he  was 
not  given  to  much  drink,  nor  to  gambling,  nor  to  profanity. 
There  were  not  many  of  his  day  enjoying  the  same  privileges 
and  opportunities  of  whom  these  three  things  could  be  said 
V,  ithout  hope  of  contradiction.  Second,  it  ought  to  be  re- 
membered that  the  day  in  which  he  lived  was  a  day  of  large 
e>aggerations.  The  terms  in  which  ordinary  things  were  de- 
scribed w'ere  usually  lurid  and  flamboyant,  and  to  hold  him 
at  fault  for  his  style  of  speech  and  writing  would  be  to  con- 
demn well-nigh  all  who  undertook  to  give  expression  to  their 
thoughts  or  a  narration  of  their  experiences.  Third,  it  should 
be  considered  that  the  times  in  which  Smith  lived  were  times 
in  which  such  incidents  as  he  related  concerning  himself 
■were,  evidently,  exceedingly  common.  When  we  may  be- 
lieve that  Sir  John  Popham^  who  afterwards  became  Chief 
Justice  of  England,  played  the  part  of  a  highwayman  when 
a  law  student  at  Middle  Temple,  earning  thus  for  himself 
means  with  which  to  pursue  his  studies^  such  encounters  as 


46  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA. 

Smith  relates  of  himself  should  not  be  difficult  for  us  to 
accept.  The  truth  is,  as  it  has  been  well  spoken,  "Those  who 
do  not  believe  in  the  accuracy  of  his  relations  concerning 
himself  refuse  to  see  anything  worthy  in  his  deeds.  On  the 
other  hand,  those  who  recognize  the  value  of  his  deeds,  do 
not  find  it  difficult  to  accept  his  relations  as  beir^g  reliable 
and  authentic." 

Jamestown,  the  place  selected  for  the  permanent  settle- 
ment of  the  colony,  did  not  prove,  as  might  easily  have  been 
foreseen,  a  place  at  all  suitable  for  the  adequate  protection 
and  health  of  the  colonists.  It  was  a  low  peninsula,  much 
of  which  was  covered  with  water  at  the  flood  tide,  and  on 
which  could  be  found  no  pure  supply  of  drinking  water,  and 
for  these  two  reasons  it  ought  to  have  been  rejected  as  a  lit 
habitation  for  the  new  settlers.  The  situation  and  surround- 
ings were  as  unsanitary  as  they  possibly  could  be,  and  well- 
nigh  most  of  the  unutterable  suffering  through  which  the 
settlers  were  to  pass  can  be  traced  to  this  unfortunate  se- 
lection of  a  site  upon  which  to  build  a  colony.  Moreover, 
the  nearness  of  the  Indians,  whom  the  colonists  too  soon 
offended  and  alienated,  and  the  meagre  supplies  that  they 
had  brought  with  them  from  across  the  waters,  and  the 
ignorance  and  incompetency  of  the  settlers  to  earn  their 
living  under  these  new  conditions,  ought  to  have  shown 
what  would  inevitably  follow.  Smith,  the  most  capable  man 
among  the  settlers,  and  the  one  most  likely  to  rally  their 
drooping  spirits  and  to  prevent  disorganization  and  oonfu- 
Sicn,  was  at  first  excluded  from  the  council  of  seven  ap- 
pc  inted  by  King  James  to  rule  the  colony  planted  in  the  wil- 
derness of  Virginia.  A  whim  of  the  King  caused  him  to 
place  in  a  sealed  box  the  names  of  the  first  council  of  Vir- 
£inia.  Great  was  the  surprise  when  the  box  was  opened 
and  it  was  found  that  John  Smith,  who  had  been  arrested 


JOHN  SMITH,  THE  HERO  OF  JAMESTOWN.     47 

auring  the  voyage  on  the  false  charge  of  mutiny,  had  been 
designated  as  one  pi  the  members  of  the  council.  The  other 
six  members  were  Edward  Maria  Wingfield,  Christopher 
Newport,  John  Ratcliffe,  John  Martin  and  George  Kendall. 
According  to  instructions,  the  council  proceeded  to  the  elec- 
tion of  a  president,  and  the  honor  fell  to  Wingfield,  who, 
though  a  prominent  and  competent  merchant  of  London,  was 
unsuited  to  govern  a  colony  of  adventurers  in  the  planting^ 
of  a  new  nation. 

Hardly  had  landing  been  effected  at  Jamestown,  before 
a  search  was  made  to  discover  the  source  of  the  river,  with 
the  hope  possibly  of  finding  a  passage  to  the  South  Seas. 
Smith,  Newport  and  twenty  others  were  sent  up  the  river, 
and  towards  the  last  of  May  the  falls  were  reached,  near 
where  Richmond  is  now  located.  Here  they  found  an  Indian 
town  called  Powhatan,  "consisting  of  some  twelve  houses 
pleasantly  situated  on  a  hill,  before  it  three  fertile  isles,  about 
it  many  of  their  corn  fields."  This  was  one  of  the  homes  of 
the  ruler  of  the  people  called  the  Powhatans,  and  his  desig- 
nation as  chief  was  Powhatan.  Not  being  able  to  ascend 
the  river  further  on  account  of  the  falls  and  rocks,  the  ex- 
plorers returned  to  Jamestown,  where  they  found  seventeen 
men  hurt  and  a  boy  slain  by  the  savages.  During  these 
days  of  exploration,  Smith  had  still  remained  under  sus- 
picion. He  now  demanded  that  he  should  be  brought  to 
trial  by  jury,  according  to  the  rights  of  an  Englishman.  He 
was  acquitted  of  the  accusation  of  mutiny,  and  his  chief 
accuser  was  adjudged  to  pay  him  £200  in  damages,  which 
Smith  "returned  to  the  store  for  the  general  use  of  the  colony." 

Newport  now  returned  home,  leaving  in  Jamestown  one 
hundred  settlers,  of  whom  fifty-four  were  classified  as  gen- 
tlemen, and  the  others  as  carpenters,  laborers  and  servants. 
Newport's  departure  was  followed  by  a  fatal  sickness,  which 


48  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA. 

was,  doubtless,  no  other  than  malarval  fever,  and  by  Sep- 
tember more  than  fifty  of  the  colonists  were  dead.  Among- 
the  victims  was  Captain  Bartholomew  Gosnold,  who  was 
more  responsible  for  this  expedition  to  Virginia  than  any 
other  man.  For  the  interest  which  he  took  in  American 
colonization  he  is  entitled  to  rank  with  Gilbert  and  Raleigh. 

Wingfield,  attempting  to  flee  from  the  colony,  was  de- 
posed as  president,  and  Ratcliffe  was  placed  in  his  stead. 
Soon  after  this,  in  order  to  save  the  colony  from  perishing, 
Smith  made  a  trip  to  Kecoughtan,  a  town  of  eighteen  Indian 
huts,  located  about  where  Hampton  now  stands.  On  de- 
manding corn  from  the  Indians,  the  same  was  refused,  where- 
upon he  and  his  men  fired  their  muskets  and  ran  their  boat 
quickly  ashore,  which  so  terrified  the  Indians  that  they  se- 
cured from  them  great  heaps  of  corn  and  quantities  of  veni- 
son and  turkeys. 

Ratcliffe  proved  incompetent  to  manage  the  settlement  in 
distress,  and  again  Wingfield  and  Kendall  plotted  to  seize 
the  only  vessel  left  of  the  colonists,  whereupon  Kendall  was 
brought  to  trial  by  a  jury,  convicted,  and  shot  for  treason. 
This  is  the  first  reported  execution  in  Virg-inia. 

As  winter  approached,  Smith,  to  satisfy  the  complaints 
of  the  colonists,  went  up  the  Chlckahominy  River,  hoping 
to  discover  a  passage  to  the  South  Seas  or  Pacific  Ocean, 
He  was  captured  by  the  Indians  and  carried  to  Opechanca- 
nough,  who  would  have  put  him  to  immediate  death  but  for 
the  fact  that  his  attention  was  beguiled  by  Smith  into  an  ex- 
ammation  of  his  compass.  By  means  of  a  grotesque  and 
elaborate  pantomime,  Smith  sought  to  explain  that  the  needle 
always  pointed  to  the  North  Star.  The  old  chief  became 
■h3'pnotized,  so  to  speak,  and  spared  the  life  of  his  captive, 
whom  he  sent  to  Werowocomoco,  on  York  River,  the  home 
of  Powhatan,  the  head  of  the  Powhatan  confederacy  of  In- 


John  Smith. 


JOHN  SMITH^  THE  HERO  OF  JAMESTOWN.     49 

dians.  When  Smith  was  brought  Into  the  presence  of  this 
brawny  emperor  of  the  woods,  he  found  him  seated  in  the 
midst  of  fifty  warriors,  with  his  group  of  wives  standing  be- 
hind him.  The  Queen  of  the  Appomattox  brought  him 
water,  and  another  a  bunch  of  turkey  feathers  for  a  towel. 
After  this  unique  ablution  he  was  feasted  upon  roast  turkey 
and  venison.  Following  this  token  of  Indian  regard  and 
'hospitality,  a  council  of  war  was  held,  and  a  decision  was 
made  that  Smith  should  be  put  to  death.  Two  stones  were 
brought,  on  which  he  was  made  to  lay  his  head,  and  just  as 
a  warrior  with  a  huge  club  was  on  the  point  of  smashing  out 
his  brains,  an  Indian  maiden  rushed  forward,  threw  herself 
on  him  and  besought  of  the  great  chief  that  the  life  of  the 
prisoner  might  be  spared.  Powhatan  at  last  yielded,  and 
gave  him  as  a  servant  to  the  Indian  maiden,  by  name  Matoaka, 
known  in  the  annals  of  Virginia  as  Pocahontas,  the  word 
meaning  "a  bright  stream  between  two  hills." 

In  a  few  days  Smith  was  permitted  to  return  to  James- 
town. Here  he  found  everything  in  confusion  and  turmoil, 
many  of  the  settlers  having  already  died  of  sickness,  and  the 
rest  of  them  at  the  point  of  starvation  for  the  want  of  proper 
nourishment.  Shortly  after  this  Newport  arrived  in  Virginia. 
The  fear  that  Smith  had  created  in  the  Indians  was  soon 
removed  by  Newport  allowing  Powhatan  to  completely  out- 
v>'it  him.  The  colony  was  greatl}'  in  need  of  corn,  and  Smith 
succeeded,  for  a  pound  or  two  of  blue  beads,  in  securing  two 
Or  three  hundred  bushels  of  corn,  but  Newport^  for  twenty 
swords,  got  only  twenty  turkeys.  Shortly  after  this  New- 
port returned  to  England,  carrying  Wingfield,  who  never 
again  returned  to  Virginia.  The  number  of  settlers  who 
came  over  at  this  time  was  one  hundred  and  twenty,  of 
whom  tliirty-three  were  classed  as  gentlemen. 

In  the  summer  of  1608,  Smith  explored  all  the  region  of 


50  COLONIAL   VIRGINIA. 

the  Chesapeake  Bay,  going-  tip  the  York,  Rappahannock  and 
Potomac  Rivers  and  inlets  along  the  Eastern  Shore,  and  oi 
this  region  he  made  a  map  which  was  wonderfully  accurate, 
considering  the  conditions  under  which  he  explored  the  re- 
gion. On  returning  to  Jamestown  after  his  explorations  of 
the  Chesapeake  and  its  tributaries,  Smith  finally  consented  to 
lake  the  office  of  president,  Ratcliffe  being  deposed  by  the 
colonists   themselves. 

About  this  time  Newport  returned  to  the  colony  bring- 
ing new  settlers,  and  along  with  them  Mrs.  Forrest  and  her 
maid,  Anne  Burras,  the  first  English  women  to  come  to  Vir- 
g-inia.  Soon  after  this  Anne  Burras  was  married  to  John 
Lay  don,  the  first  English  marriage  in  Virginia.  We  are 
told  that  the  first  child  born  of  this  marriage  was  called  Vir- 
ginia, and  that  in  1632,  when  twenty-one  years  of  age,  she 
v/as  presented  with  a  land  g;rant  of  500  acres  of  land  in  Eliza- 
beth City  county. 

Smith,  as  president,  addressed  himself  most  seriously  to 
the  important  task  to  which  he  had  been  called  in  the  very 
crisis  in  the  life  of  the  colony.  He  put  the  settlers  to  work  to 
build  substantial  houses.  The  fort  was  repaired,  every  man 
being  required  to  perform  a  certain  number  of  hours'  service 
every  day.  During  the  winter  of  i6o8-'o9  he  secured  from 
the  Indians  food  necessary  to  keep  the  colony  from  perishing. 
During  this  period  Pocahontas  was  his  constant  friend.  On 
one  occasion  he  visited  the  Pamunkey  tribe,  and,  finding 
that  Opechancanough  was  planning  to  have  him  and  his 
companions  seized  and  murdered,  he  suddenly  caught  the  old 
chief  by  his  forelock,  and  with  a  cocked  pistol  led  him  into 
the  midst  of  his  own  people.  This  so  dismayed  the  Indians 
that  they  at  once  yielded  to  Smith's  authority,  and  very  little 
trouble  was  experienced  with  the  Indians  during  the  rest  of 
Smith's  sojourn  in  Virginia. 


JOHN  SMITH,  THE  HERO  OF  JAMESTOWN.     51 

During  the  year  1609  a  number  of  settlers  arrived,  and  by 
the  middle  of  the  year  there  were  near  unto  five  hundred 
souls  in  the  colony.  These  were  distributed  among  several 
small  settlements.  An  important  settlement  of  about  one 
hundred  and  twenty  men  was  made  near  the  falls,  in  that 
poition  of  Richmond  commonly  called  "Rocketts."  In  a  little 
while  these  settlers  were  in  dispute  with  the  Indians.  The 
latter  claimed  that  their  corn  was  stolen  by  the  white  set- 
tlers and  that  they  were  forced  to  work.  They  reported  fur- 
ther that  some  of  their  men  were  arrested  and  others  were 
flogged.  To  settle  these  difficulties  Smith  went  to  the  falls, 
arranged  terms  with  the  Indians,  and  bought  another  site 
for  the  plantation,  which  was  on  high  ground  and  not  sub- 
ject to  inundation  from  the  river.  Scarcely  had  these  mat- 
ters been  arranged,  however,  before  Captain  West,  who 
planted  the  settlement,  appeared  upon  the  scene  and  per- 
suaded the  settlers  to  go  back  to  their  first  location.  Smith 
left  the  place  in  deep  disgust.  On  his  way  down  the  river 
he  was  severely  wounded  by  an  explosion  of  a  bag  of  gun- 
powder. The  pain  was  so  intense  that  he  threw  himself 
overboard,  but  he  was  rescued  from  drowning  by  some  of 
his  companions.  They  finally  reached  Jamestown.  A  ves- 
sel arriving  from  London  at  this  time,  Smith  determined  to 
return  to  England  for  medical  treatment.  Surrendering  the 
government  into  the  hands  of  George  Percy,  the  brother  of 
the  Earl  of  Northumberland,  Smith  sailed  away.  It  was  a 
day  of  misfortune  to  the  colony,  for  hardly  had  l^e  gone  be- 
fore dissension  and  strife  arose,  and  Percy  did  not  prove 
strong  enough  for  the  emergency. 

There  have  been  in  recent  years  some  earnest  attempts  at 
impeachment  of  the  stories  of  Smith  concerning  his  relations 
and  experiences  with  the  Indians.  Especially  has  the  story  of 
his  rescue  by  Pocahontas  been  held  in  grave  suspicion.     Per- 


52  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA. 

liaps  the  ablest  contention  from  this  point  lof  view  was  waged 
by  Dr.  Alexander  Brown,  of  Virginia,  whose  recent  death  is 
greatly  to  be  deplored,  and  whose  splendid  contribution  to 
the  history  of  Virginia  cannot  be  praised  too  highly.  It  does 
not  seem,  however,  to  us  that  the  contention  has  been  made 
cut  clearly  and  completely.  The  ground  of  the  contention 
seems  to  be  this : 

In  Smith's  first  account  of  his  career  in  Virginia  no  allu- 
sion whatever  was  made  to  the  Pocahontas  episode,  and  only 
when  Pocahontas  was  coming  to  London  and  about  to  be 
received  with  great  attention  and  applause  did  it  occur  to 
him  to  relate  this  story  in  a  letter  to  the  King,  giving  his 
rescue  by  Pocahontas  as  the  ground  of  his  appeal  for  kindly 
attention  on  the  King's  part  toward  her.  It  does  not  seem 
to  us  that  this  necessarily  proves  the  inaccuracy  of  Smith  as 
a  historian.  It  can  be  shown  that  there  Vv^ere  reasons  why 
this  story  did  not  appear  in  Smith's  first  and  briefer  relation. 
It  is  understood  on  all  hands  that  his  first  relation  was  edite  1 
and  some  parts  of  it  eliminated.  There  is  a  well-known  rea- 
son why  Smith  should  not  have  told  this  incident  in  this  re- 
lation, and  why,  if  he  should  have  done  so,  it  would  have 
been  eliminated  before  being  given  to  the  public.  Among  the 
instructions  given  to  the  colonists,  they  were  warned  not  to 
send  back  in  any  letters  or  communications  any  discouraging 
or  distressing  news,  and  especially  must  they  withhold  expe- 
riences with  the  Indians  that  would  indicate  harsh  relations 
between  the  settlers  and  the  aborigines.  Furthermore,  it 
ought  to  be  remembered  that  at  the  time  when  this  story 
was  first  related  Pocahontas  herself  was  in  England,  and 
nmst  have  known  of  the  publicity  given  to  this  statement. 
It  is  difficult  to  believe  that  if  it  had  been  untrue  she  would 
have  permitted  it  to  pass  without  some  explanation  and  de- 
nial.    Smith,  it  must  not  be  forgotten,  had  many  enemies 


JOHN  SMITH,  THE  HERO  OF  JAMESTOWN.     53 

still  alive  who  must  have  been  acquainted  with  the  leading 
facts  of  his  career  at  Jamestown,  and  if  it  had  not  been  ac- 
cepted among  these  settlers  as  a  story  knovv'n  to  them  before 
its  public  relation,  it  cannot  be  doubted  but  that  they  would 
have  been  only  too  glad  to  have  made  prompt  and  public 
denial  of  it.  Besides,  the  story  is  congruous  both  with  the 
customs  of  the  Indian  people  and  with  the  conduct  of  the 
Indians  ever  afterward,  especially  the  conduct  of  the  maiden 
Pocahontas.  There  must  have  been  some  reason  for  her 
friendly  relation  with  the  settlers,  and  for  the  amicable  rela- 
tions sustained  for  some  time  between  the  Indians  and  the 
settlers.  This  episode  seems  to  be  an  adequate  explanation 
for  these  things,  or,  at  least,  it  perfectly  comiports  with  them. 
In  view  of  these  considerations,  thus  hastily  given,  we  are 
unwilling  to  give  up  this  beautiful  incident  as  being  a  figment 
of  Smith's  imagination  and  a  creature  of  his  arrogant  conceit. 
It  seems  to  us  that  the  whole  trouble  with  reference  to  the 
suspicion  under  which  Smith  has  been  held  grows  out  of  the 
psychological  difficulty  of  reconciling  the  paradoxes  of  his 
cliaracter.  It  is  hard  to  give  credit  of  sincerity  and  veracity 
to  a  man  who  carries  himself  in  such  a  blustering  and  per- 
sistently self-conscious  way,  and  if  the  performances  of  Smith 
c'Ud  the  services  rendered  on  behalf  of  the  colony  had  not  been 
\ery  real  and  substantial,  it  might  be  easy  to  accept  this  view 
c^f  the  case.  When  you  have  made  all  the  discount  possibly 
to  be  allowed  by  the  palpable  and  flagrant  fault  of  the  man's 
speech,  manner  and  character,  there  is  still  a  uoIdIc  residue 
that  must  be  taken  into  account.  He  was  alert  and  quickly; 
responsive  to  situations  that  changed  with  kaleidoscopic 
swiftness  and  variety.  He  was  courageous  and  resourceful 
in  war.  He  was  sagacious  and  diplomatic  in  dealings  outside 
of  the  immediate  settlement,  both  with  the  Indians  and  witli 
the  London  Company  in  its  incessant  and  sometimes  unrea- 


54  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA. 

sonable  scrutiny  and  requirements.  He  was  magnanimous 
4  tiO  his  foes.  He  was  always  as  kind  and  patient  in  his  treat- 
ment of  the  aborigines  as  their  own  savage  ignorance  and  the 
safety  of  the  colonists  would  permit  him  to  be.  Though  he 
v/as  boastful  of  speech  and  aggressive,  if  not  arrogant,  in  his 
manner,  he  was  brave  and  magnanimous,  courageous  and  hon- 
est, gentle  and  just,  unselfish  and  patriotic ;  and  however  these 
may  conflict  with  other  contradictory  qualities,  there  cannot 
be  any  doubt  but  that  these  were  the  warp  and  the  woof  of  his 
character,  and  by  virtue  of  these  we  deem  him  justly  entitled 
to  be  called  the  hero  of  Jamestown. 

Smith  left  Virginia  in  1609,  never  to  return  to  the  colony. 
After  recovering  from  his  wounds  he  was  commissioned  to 
explore  the  coast  of  New  England,  To  this  region  he  gave 
many  of  the  names  which  are  now  in  common  use.  The 
Plymouth  Company  conferred  upon  him  the  title  of  Admiral 
of  New  England.  While  in  Virginia  he  wrote  a  pamphlet 
entitled  "The  True  Relation  of  Virginia,"  and  after  his  return 
to  England  he  compiled  a  history  which  is  known  as  "Smith's 
General  History,"  published  in  1626.  He  also  wrote  other  de- 
scriptions of  Virginia  and  of  New  England.  As  a  writer 
Smith  is  most  pleasing  and  humorous.  He  died  in  London  in 
1631,  and  was  buried  in  St.  Sepulchre's  Church,  Skinners 
Street,  London.  A  tablet  was  erected  to  his  memory  and 
inscribed  with  the  motto,  "Vincere  est  Vivere,"  and  with  a 
long  epitaph  in  poetry,  the  first  four  lines  of  which  are  here 
given : 

"Here  lies  unconquered  that  has  conquered  kings. 
Subdued  large  territories  and  done  things 
Which  to  the  world  impossible  would  seem, 
But  that  the  truth  is  held  in  more  esteem.'' 

Strangely  enough,  no  monument  has  been  erected  to  the 
memory  of  John  Smith.     It  must,  therefore,  be  a  matter  of 


JOHN  SMITH,  THE  HERO  OF  JAMESTOWN.     55 

jrreat  satisfaction  to  all  familiar  with  the  valorous  deeds  of 
this  hero  of  Jamestown  to  know  that  through  the  perse- 
verance of  the  Society  for  the  Preservation  of  Virginia 
Antiquities,  a  monument  will  be  erected  on  Jamestown  Island 
in  1907  as  a  tribute  to  Smith  and  his  distinguished  services 
to  the  Virginia  Colony. 


CHAPTER  V. 
THE  LAND  OF  POWHATAN  AND  HIS  PEOPLE. 

When  the  first  settlers  came  up  the  James  River  and 
moored  their  ships  at  the  shores  lof  Jamestown,  it  was  spring- 
time in  Virginia.  Her  sons  know  what  that  means.  How 
swiftly  things  that  have  been  away  come  back;  or  asleep,  be- 
come alive  and  astir ;  or  dead,  break  and  bloom  into  life  at  the 
first  kiss  of  the  vernal  sun  and  the  call  of  the  south  wind. 
But  such  a  spring  as  greeted  the  weary  voyagers  of  the  God- 
speed, of  the  Susan  Constant  and  of  the  Discovery  has  never 
been  since  seen  on  land  or  sea.  Above  them  skies  blue  and 
sun  as  genial  as  Italy's.  The  forest  trees  were  leafed,  and 
as  far  as  the  eye  could  see  there  was  wave  upon  wave  of  shim- 
mering green;  here  and  there  the  gleaming  pink  and  white 
of  the  blossom  of  the  crab-apple  and  v/ild  cherry  and  dogwood. 
Under  their  feet  sprang  up  the  grass,  tender  with  the  first 
touch  of  spring,  and  a  thousand  yellow  and  blue  and  red 
things,  sweet  and  fragrant.  Everywhere  was  the  pulsing  and 
throbbing  springtime  felt,  filling  all  the  forests  with  vibrant 
and  gladsome  life,  and  all  the  air  with  perfume. 

After  three  months  of  cloud  and  storm  and  the  narrow 
confinement  and  coarse  diet  of  their  long  voyage,  how  it  all 
must  have  seemed,  as  the  settlers  themselves  declared  it  to 
be,  "the  very  paradise  of  God  into  which  they  had  come." 
The  old  Eden  by  the  Euphrates  sprang  up  again  in  a  distant 
land  by  a  river  bearing  the  strange  name  of  Powhatan.  How 
rc^levant  to  all  the  life  without  and  to  all  the  thought  within 

56 


LAND  OF  POWHATAN  AND  HIS  PEOPLE.       57 

nmst  have  been  those  first  religious  exercises  in  which  they 
engaged  in  the  new  land '  A  board  stretched  between  two 
forest  trees  was  the  altar  upon  which  the  Holy  Bible  and 
Prayer  Book  were  reverently  laid,  and  from  which  their  rec- 
tor, the  Reverend  Mr.  Hunt,  read  the  solemn  and  noble  ser- 
vice of  the  Church  of  old  England.  The  singing  of  the  birds, 
mate  calling  to  mate  in  the  mysterious  honeymoon  of  the 
early  springtime;  the  rustling  of  the  leaves  of  the  forests, 
moved  upon  by  the  south  wind ;  the  rippling  of  the  passing 
river,  singing  its  way  toward  the  sea,  united  with  the  song 
and  psalm  of  the  devout  worshipers,  and  must  have  risen  up 
to  the  God  of  nations  as  grateful  as  incense  from  graven 
altars,  and  as  sweet  as  the  rising  fragrance  of  bud  and  blossom 
in  the  valleys  beneath. 

Smith,  writing  back,  said  "that  heaven  and  earth  never 
agreed  better  to  form  a  place  for  man's  habitation."  A  much 
traveled  member  of  the  London  Company  declared,  "I  have 
traveled  by  land  over  eighteen  several  kingdoms,  and  yet  all 
of  them,  in  my  mind,  come  far  short  to  Virginia."  Mr.  Wil- 
liams, in  some  historical  tracts  afterward  issued,  wrote :  "For 
exactness  of  temperature,  goodness  of  soil,  variety  of  staples, 
and  capabilit^r  of  receiving  whatever  else  is  produced  in  any 
part  of  the  globe,  Virginia  gives  the  right  hand  of  pre-emi- 
nence to  no  province  under  heaven."  Mr.  Bruce,  in  his  superb 
"Economic  History  of  Virginia,"  following  perhaps  I\Ir.  Bev- 
erly, said  that  there  were  three  sorts  of  soil  easily  recognized 
in  Virginia.  The  soil  near  the  mouth  of  the  rivers,  moist  and 
fertile,  was  adapted  to  the  growth  o.f  rice,  hemp,  tobacco  and 
corn.  The  low  grounds  were  in  general  covered  with  forests 
of  pine,  poplar,  cypress,  sweet-gum,  holly,  cedar  and  live-oak. 
Then  there  was  the  soil  found  on  the  banks  of  the  upper  sec- 
tions of  the  rivers  and  throughout  the  adjacent  country.  It 
v/as  quite  frequently  a  rich,  black  mold,  but  loose  and  light 
and  thin.     In  this  soil  the  walnut,  birch  and  ash  grew  to  be 


58  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA. 

of  remarkable  size.  The  soil  around  the  headwaters  of  the 
various  rivers  was  of  another  sort,  and  varied  greatly  in  fer- 
tility. Some  was  rich  and  heavily  timbered ;  upon  another 
grew  vast  meadows  and  savannas  of  tall  reed  and  grass ;  an- 
other still  was  made  up  of  acres  of  bog  and  swamps,  filled 
with  great  trees  growing  so  closely  together  that  their 
branches  interlocked.  Almost  the  entire  face  of  the  country, 
when  the  Virginia  settlers  came,  was  covered  by  primeval 
forests.  Here  and  there  along  the  banks  of  the  streams  could 
be  seen  cleared  patches  of  ground  where  the  Indian  villages 
were  built,  and  where  they  cultivated  their  corn  and  vege- 
tables. Freedom  from  undergrowth  was  one  of  the  first  char- 
acteristics of  the  forests  that  impressed  the  settlers.  It  is 
said  that  it  was  easy  to  drive  a  team  through  the  forests  and 
not  at  all  difficult  to  form  a  line  of  battle  under  the  great 
trees.  The  first  seen  by  the  settlers  of  1607  were  the  pine 
trees  that  kept  sentinel  along  the  shores  of  the  seas  of  Vir- 
ginia. It  is  said  that  approaching  vessels  could  detect,  many 
miles  out  at  sea,  the  pungent  and  fragrant  odor  of  the  pine. 
These  pine  trees,  rising  from  the  lowlands  by  the  sea,  at  a 
distance  appeared  to  spring  up  out  of  the  sea,  lifting  their 
heads  even  unto  the  skies.  They  grew  to  be  tremendous, 
both  in  girth  and  in  length.  The  finest  specimen  of  the  pine 
tree  in  Virginia  at  that  time  grew  on  the  shores  where  Hamp- 
ton Roads  now  is.  It  v/as  found  by  the  Virginia  settlers  that 
they  had  no  ships  that  could  carry  away  the  logs  of  these 
great  pine  trees  unless  they  were  trimmed  and  cut  down  as 
to  length. 

The  oak  tree  likewise  grew  to  be  very  large,  planks  from 
which  were  made  having  twenty  yards  in  length  and  two  and 
a  half  feet  square.  , 

Of  fruit  trees  there  were  not  very  many.  The  crab-apple, 
wild  cherry,  persimmon  and  the  plum  constituted  the  assort- 
ment of  fruit  trees  native  to  the  Virginian  soil.     The  goose- 


LAND  OF  POWHATAN  AND  HIS  PEOPLE.       59 

berry,  raspberry  and  cranberry  greatly  flourished.  The  wild 
strawberry  grew  in  prodigal  abundance,  and  greatly  pleased 
the  settlers  with  its  size  and  fine  flavor. 

In  the  fields  were  to  be  found  the  wild  onion,  growing 
to  be  "as  large  as  the  thumb" ;  the  squash,  pumpkin  and  musk- 
melon  greatly  flourished;  but  the  watermelon,  for  which  Vir- 
ginia has  since  become  famous,  was  not  indigenous,  but  was 
afterwards  imported. 

Of  the  flowers  the  first  settlers  make  no  special  mention, 
only  lOf  the  wild  rose  and  violet ;  but  at  the  time  of  their 
landing  hundreds  of  other  flowers,  some  known  and  some  un- 
known to  them,  were  in  bloom.  A  species  of  laurel  grew 
and  blossomed  through  the  several  months,  rich  in  coloring 
and  very  fragrant.  The  locust  tree  abounded  with  flowers 
something  like  the  jessamine.  The  dog-wood,  blooming  in 
the  early  spring,  was  in  full  glory  at  the  time  of  the  first  set- 
tlement. The  myrtle  trees,  whose  bark  yielded  a  gum  thought 
to  have  healing  qualities,  and  whose  branches  blossomed  lux- 
uriantly in  pink  and  white,  could  be  found  in  all  parts  of  Tide- 
water Virginia. 

A  notable  feature  of  the  new  country  was  the  number  of 
streams.  This  must  have  been  especially  grateful  to  the  voy- 
agers after  their  three  months  on  shipboard.  Many  of  these 
streams  were  large  and  navigable  for  many  miles  inward. 
Into  the  larger  streams  from  right  and  left  came  tributaries, 
many  of  which  were  themselves  navigable.  All  of  these 
streams,  whether  large  or  great,  ran  perfectly  clear.  This  is 
a  strange  statement  to  the  Virginian  of  the  present  day.  Now 
ll-at  the  forests  have  been  cut  away,  and  the  contiguous 
fields  put  under  cultivation,  many  of  these  streams  for  most 
of  the  year  run  red  and  muddy  instead  of  clear  and  pure. 

The  fields  and  forests  abounded  in  all  sorts  of  game,  be- 
coming more  plentiful  as  one  went  into  the  interior  farther 
from  the  hunting  grounds  of  the  Indians.     In  the  early  spring 


6o  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA. 

?nd  fall  the  country  v/as  filled  with  feathered  game.  The 
swan,  wild  goose,  duck  in  numerous  varieties,  but  worthy  oi 
especial  mention  the  canvas-back  and  red-head;  plover,  snipe, 
woodcock  and  sora  all  abounded.  The  turkey  seems  most 
to  have  impressed  the  early  settlers,  and  was  found  every- 
where in  great  quantities.  The  eagle — black,  gray  and  bald — 
was  numerous.  Likewise  the  owl  aiid  crow,  the  latter  after- 
v/ard  to  become  increasingly  numerous  and  troublesome  to 
the  colonists. 

This  description,  all  too  meagre,  is  only  a  bare  suggestion 
of  the  marvelous  land  into  v/hich  the  first  Virginia  settlers 
came  and  built  their  homes. 

The  history  of  the  aboriginal  inhabitants  of  this  new  land 
is  of  a  very  uncertain  and  unreliable  sort.  It  is  exceedingly 
difficult  to  separate  the  wheat  from  the  chaff  in  the  stories 
of  the  first  explorers.  It  is  not  that  they  were  mistaken  some- 
times, but  that  they  evidently  and  frequently  made  statements 
that  were  exaggerations.  Besides,  the  Indians  were  most 
crafty  and  deceitful,  and  were  most  reluctant  to  furnish  in- 
formation unless  they  saw  a  chance  to  reap  some  advantage. 
These  facts,  put  together,  make  it  exceedingly  doubtful 
whether  any  really  accurate  and  satisfactory  history  can  be 
given  of  the  very  early  Virginia  Indian.  It  was  scarcely  to 
be  expected  of  these  first  adventurers,  on  account  of  the  in- 
herent difficulties  in  circumstances  surrounding  them,  to  make 
a  very  full  or  accurate  relation  of  what  they  had  seen  or  of 
the  experiences  through  which  they  had  passed.  Not  always 
could  they  understand  the  Indian  when  he  really  meant  to 
tell  the  truth,  and  not  loften  could  they  really  discover  when 
he  was  telling  the  truth.  The  things  they  saw  and  heard 
were  so  utterly  new  and  strange,  that  it  was  exceedingly  dif- 
ficult for  them  to  understand  or  to  be  able  to  accurately  de- 
scribe them  to  others. 


LAND  OF  POWHATAN  AND  HIS  PEOPLE.       6i 

At  the  time  of  the  coming  of  the  first  settlers  there  were 
three  tribes  of  Indians  living  between  the  James  and  Potomac 
Rivers,  and  these  were  the  Indians  v/ith  whom  the  early  set- 
tlers first  came  in  contact :  The  Mannahoac  Indians,  living  at 
the  headwaters  of  the  Rappahannock  and  Potomac  Rivers; 
the  Monocan  Indians,  occupying  the  territory  on  the  banks 
of  the  upper  James  River,  and  the  Powhatans,  possessing 
practically  all  of  the  portion  of  the  country  now  known  as 
Tidewater  Virginia.  These  were  the  tribes  with  which  the 
settlers  had  most  to  do  and  from  v/hom  they  had  most  trou- 
ble ;  and  yet,  indeed,  from  whom  they  had  indispensable  suc- 
cor in  dire  distress. 

The  Powhatan  confederacy  was  composed  of  thirty  tribes 
and  about  twenty-four  hundred  warriors,  which  would  mean 
a  population  of  about  ten  thousand.  The  largest  of  these 
tribes  was  the  Pamunkey,  having  about  one  thousand  popula- 
tion. The  Powhatan  at  the  head  of  this  confederacy  was  of 
the  Pamunkey  tribe. 

The  head  of  the  allied  tribes  in  Virginia  was  known  as 
Powhatan.  Pie  occupied  the  relation  of  King  or  Emperor 
over  the  subordinated  confederacies.  He  had  three  official 
residences.  The  first  one  was  on  the  north  side  of  the  York 
River,  about  three  miles  from  the  present  Yorktown,  and  was 
called  Werowocomoco.  The  next  capital  residence  was  at 
Orapakes,  on  the  Chickahominy  River,  near  Powhatan,  and 
the  third  place  was  at  Powhatan,  near  the  present  site  of  the 
city  of  Richmond. 

Powhatan,  at  the  time  of  the  coming  of  the  English  set- 
tlers at  Jamestown,  is  described  by  Strachy,  who  evidently 
had  his  information  from  Smith,  as  follows : 

"A  goodly  lold  man,  not  yet  shrinking,  though  well  beaten 
with  many  strong  and  cold  winters,  supposed  to  be  little  less 
ihan  eighty  years  old,  with  gray  hairs  but  plain  and  thin  upon 


62  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA. 

his  broad  shoulders;  some  few  hairs  upon  his  chin  and  upper 
lip.  He  hath  been  a  strong  and  able  savage,  sinewy,  and  'of  a 
daring  spirit;  vigilant  and  ambitious,  subtle  to  enlarge  his  do- 
minions." 

In  Powhatan  w^as  centred  all  governmental  power.  The 
legislative,  judicial  and  executive  branches  of  government 
seemed  all  to  have  been  lodged  in  him.  He  associated  with 
himself  a  considerable  pomp  and  parade  of  office  and  power, 
had  a  royal  retinue  as  bodyguard,  composed  of  sixty  or  sev- 
enty of  the  most  stalwart  and  fearless  Indian  warriors.  He 
exercised  undisputed  authorit}^  over  all  the  allied  tribes.  His 
subjects  planted  all  his  corn  and  gathered  it  for  him  when 
it  was  ripe.  His  treasure  house  was  located  at  Orapakes.  It 
is  said  to  have  been  fifty  or  sixty  feet  long,  and  was  the 
storehouse,  not  only  of  his  corn,  but  of  his  other  valuable 
possessions,  such  as  skins,  copper,  paint,  beads  and  arms  of 
all  kinds.  He  had  to  himself  the  responsibility  of  many 
wives.  Strachy  said  "he  had  a  multiplicity  of  women."  Most 
of  these  he  left  at  home  whenever  he  took  excursions,  but  al- 
Vv'ays  carried  with  him  two  or  more  wherever  he  went.  Mr. 
Strachy  is  the  authority  for  the  statement  that  he  had  twenty 
sons  and  twelve  daughters,  one  of  whom  was  the  Princess 
Pocahontas.  When  for  any  reason  he  became  tired  of  a  wife, 
he  gave  her  away  to  some  of  his  friends  as  a  token  of  his 
royal  favior. 

The  empire  over  which  he  ruled  was  made  up  of  many 
subdivisions.  Each  town  or  village  constituted  one  of  these 
divisions. 

Powhatan,  in  his  dealings  with  the  early  settlers,  showed 
himself  to  be  wonderfully  shrewd  and  wise.  Had  he  dealt 
with  one  less  shrewd  than  Smith,  and  having  less  experience 
in  adventure,  the  colonists  w.ould  have  doubtless  suffered 
many  more  and  worse  things  at  the  hands  of  the  Indians. 


LAND  OF  POWHATAN  AND  HIS  PEOPLE.       63 

He  constantly  held  the  settlers  under  suspicion,  and  seemed 
to  fear  the  most  when  they  came  bearing  gifts.  It  was  evi- 
dent that  he  had  little  relish  for  the  coronation  ceremonies 
that  were  inflicted  upon  him,  and  that  he  accepted  the  gifts 
sent  by  the  King  of  England  with  some  apprehension,  be- 
lieving that  in  some  way  or  other  he  would  be  obliged  to  give 
an  account  for  them.  One  does  not  know  whether  it  was  in 
a  sense  of  savage  humor  or  of  contempt  that  he  gathered  up 
his  cast-off  garments  and  presented  them  to  the  commission 
that  had  in  charge  the  ceremonies  and  coronation.  It  may  be 
that  the  shrewd  Indian  in  that  wa}^  sought  to  indicate  his 
supreme  contempt  for  the  Vvdiole  proceedings. 

The  tribes  over  which  he  ruled  were  made  up  of  subdi- 
visions, and  were  so  distributed  as  that  a  town  or  village 
constituted  one  of  these  divisions. 

These  towns  were  independent  of  each  other,  but  were 
all  under  one  Emperor  and  governed  by  him  or  his  appointees. 
In  each  village  were  a  sachem,  a  tribal  council  and  a  priest. 

The  sachem  was  a  member  of  the  King's  council,  and 
was  looked  to  for  advice  and  direction  in  all  civil  and  do- 
mestic matters.  He  had  absolute  power  of  life  and  death, 
and  his  word  was  ordinarily  considered  final.  The  wero- 
wance  was  the  war  leader,  and  was  the  chief  in  all  hunting 
expeditions.  In  time  of  war  he  was  supreme  in  authority. 
He  was  appointed  by  the  Emperor,  while  the  sachem  was 
elected  by  the  people. 

The  tribal  council,  chosen  by  the  people,  had  the  author- 
ity of  counsel  and  advice  in  every  town.  There  was  a  gen- 
eral council  which  met  at  Werowocom.oco.  Over  its  delib- 
erations the  Emperor  himself  presided,  and  was  always  treated 
with  profound  respect.  The  general  council  was  made  up 
of  representatives  from  the  various  tribal  towns. 

The  priests  had  authority  in  all  religious  and  spiritual 


64  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA. 

matters.  They  were  held  in  high  esteem,  and  were  consulted 
ill  resfard  to  all  important  undertakings. 

It  can  be  seen  from  these  statements  that  there  was  con- 
siderable coherence  in  the  g-overnment  among  the  Indians. 
The  resemblance  to  English  forms  of  governmental  life  sug- 
gests that,  after  all,  the  historians  might  have  read  their  own 
ideas  into  such  observation  and  into  such  information  as 
might  have  come  to  them  with  the  limited  means  of  finding 
information  at  their  command.  It  is  a  little  difficult  to  im- 
agine such  advanced  ideas  of  government  among  a  people 
so  savage  and  so  isolated  as  were  these  aborigines. 

Among  them  land  was  held  in  common,  each  inhabitant 
having  equal  rights  in  all  hunting  privileges.  Private  pro- 
perty, dwellings  and  gardens  were  respected  by  all.  The  vil- 
lages were  usually  built  upon  high  places,  contiguous  to 
streams  of  water.  They  were  composed  of  twenty-five  or 
thirty  houses,  which  were  built  of  saplings,  planted  at  regular 
distances  like  posts,  and  then  bent  over  and  tied  together  in 
the  middle.  The  hpuse  was  built  up  by  skilful  application 
and  use  of  barks  and  grasses  adroitly  interwoven.  The  roof 
came  dovv^n  well  over  the  structure.  Sometimes  there  were 
windows,  but  usually  there  was  only  one  opening.  The  fire 
for  heating  was  built  in  the  middle  of  the  house  on  the  floor, 
and  usually  there  was  an  opening  at  some  proper  place  in  the 
roof  for  the  escape  of  the  smoke.  The  beds  were  arranged 
around  the  fire  and  were  usually  elevated  a  few  feet  above 
the  ground,  or  were  made  up  of  pallets  of  furs  and  skins 
stretched  upon  the  floor.  Several  families  usually  occupied 
one  of  these  dwellings.  The  shape  of  the  houses  was  either 
oblong  or  circular.  The  circular  form  was  much  smaller  and 
was  not  so  generally  used.  Each  dwelling  place  had  its  own 
plot  of  ground  for  the  cultivation  of  corn  and  vegetables. 
Certain  trees  were  planted  and  cultivated.     The  mulberry 


LAND  OF  POWHATAN  AND  HIS  PEOPLE.       65 

tree,  for  some  reason,  was  especially  popular,  and  the  loca- 
tion of  many  of  these  Indian  villages  could  be  traced  many 
years  afterward  by  the  presence  and  growth  of  these  mul- 
berry trees.  The  sunflower  was  also  a  favorite,  and  in  all 
their  gardens  it  could  be  seen  growing  in  luxuriance. 

The  products  of  the  field  were,  in  the  main,  corn,  beans 
and  squashes  or  pumpkins.  These  ordinarily  were  all  grown 
as  they  are  now,  in  the  same  fields.  The  corn  was  planted  at 
intervals  as  the  season  wore  on,  so  as  to  have  man3^  crops  of 
the  roasting  ear,  of  which  the  Indians  were  very  fond.  At 
the  har\^est  season  the  corn  was  gathered,  and  when  perfectly 
dried  and  seasoned,  was  shelled  and  stored  away  in  huge 
baskets  for  the  winter's  use.  This  was  used  in  the  form  of 
hominy. 

Captain  John  Smith  said,  "There  is  yet  no  place  in  Vir- 
ginia discovered  to  be  so  savage  in  which  they  have  not  a  re- 
ligion." Every  Indian  village  had  a  temple  and  attending 
priests.  The  temples  were  usually  capacious.  They  were 
entered  always  from  the  east.  At  the  western  end  of  the 
building  there  was  a  rude  sort  of  chancel  or  altar  "with  hol- 
low windings  and  pillars,  and  around  stood  divers  black  im- 
ages fashioned  to  the  shoulders,  with  their  faces  looking  down 
the  church."  These  temples  were  cared  for  by  the  priests, 
who  practiced  in  them  at  certain  times  ritualistic  services. 
They  believed  in  the  existence  of  a  Supreme  Being  who  was 
wise  and  bountiful  and  benevolent.  They  usually  believed 
in  another  supreme  being  who  represented  the  evil  principle, 
and  whom  they  held  responsible  for  all  the  evil  and  sorrow  of 
their  lives. 

The  Supreme  Being  who  represented  the  good  principle 
they  believed  to  be  kindly  and  mercifully  disposed,  and  if  un- 
hindered, he  would  fill  their  lives  with  joy  and  blessings.  So 
assured  were  they  in  this  belief  of  his  perpetual  goodness 


66  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA. 

that  they  thought  it  unnecessary  to  render  unto  him  any  spe- 
cial form  of  worship. 

On  the  other  hand,  they  beheved  that  the  being  repre- 
senting the  evil  principle  was  constantly  bent  upon  their 
suffering  and  unhappiness.  With  this  belief  they  conceived 
the  idea  that  if  this  supreme  being  could  be  appeased  they 
would  be  saved  friom  misery  and  unhappiness.  They  there- 
fore concluded,  in  their  rude  logic,  that  it  was  better  to  wor- 
ship the  evil  principle  rather  than  the  good  principle,  because 
the  evil  principle  might  be  placated  and  bought  off.  So  their 
offerings  and  gifts  were  all  paid  to  the  being  representing 
the  evil  principle  of  life. 

They  celebrated,  under  the  leadership  of  their  priests, 
two  annual  feasts.  One  of  them  was  at  the  time  of  the  gath- 
ering in  of  the  corn,  and  must  have  corresponded  in  some 
ways  to  our  annual  Thanksgiving  services.  It  was  observed 
as-  a  day  of  feasting  and  rejoicing.  The  other  feast  seems 
to  have  corresponded  somewhat  with  our  New  Year's  festivi- 
ties. The  exercises  began  with  fasting  on  the  part  of  all  the 
members  of  the  tribe.  The  old  fires  that  had  been  carefully 
cherished  throughout  the  year  were  extinguished  and  new 
fires  kindled.  Ever^^  member  of  the  tribe  was  required  to  take 
an  emetic,  after  which  life  was  begun  over  again.  All  crimi- 
nals, except  murderers,  were  on  that  day  pardoned,  and  after 
having  taken,  along  with  the  rest,  an  emetic,  they  were  re- 
stored fully  to  their  old  places  and  standing  in  the  tribe. 

They  had  a  very  decided  belief  in  another  form  of  exist- 
ence. They  seemed  to  have  believed  in  what  Christian  peo- 
ple are  used  to  calling  heaven  and  hell.  Into  the  heaven  went 
all  the  good  and  faithful  and  brave ;  into  hell  were  driven  the 
wicked  and  unfaithful.  In  connection  with  this  belief  in  a 
future  life  they  had  a  sort  of  vague  faith  in  the  transmigra- 
tion of  souls,  and  seem  to  have  believed  that  after  a  certain 


;LAND  OF  POWHATAN  AND  HIS  PEOPLE.       67 

stay  in  the  evil  place,  some  were  permitted  to  come  back  into 
life  and  begin  the  slow  process  of  transmigration  which  should 
issue  into  a  better  and  truer  life. 

It  will  be  interesting,  perhaps,  to  know  that  there  still 
lingers  in  Virginia  a  small  tribe  of  Indians  known  as  the  Pa- 
rnunkey  Indians.  They  claim  to  be  the  lineal  descendants  of 
the  Powhatan  tribe. 

We  are  indebted  to  Mr.  John  Garland  Pollard  for  very 
definite  information  concerning  this  tribe  of  Indians.  They 
live  in  a  town  on  the  Richmond  and  West  Point  Railway, 
known  as  Indian  Town,  about  twenty-one  miles  east  of  Rich- 
mond. They  live  upon  a  tract  of  land  containing  about  eight 
hundred  acres,  of  which  there  are  two  hundred  and  fifty 
arable  acres.  This  tract  was  conceded  by  an  act  of  the  Colon- 
ial Assembly,  and  it  is  never  to  be  alienated  from  their  pos- 
session. 

In  1893  Mr.  Pollard  went  to  this  Indian  village  and  took 
a  census  of  the  Pamunkey  tribe.  He  reported  that  there  were 
present  on  the  reservation  ninety  Indians  all  told ;  twenty 
others  were  accounted  for  as  being  in  service  in  Richmond  or 
as  being  employed  on  the  steamships  plying  the  Virginia 
streams  during  the  summer.  So  that,  all  told,  there  were  in 
1893  one  hundred  and  ten  Pamunkey  Indians. 

These  Indians  are  not  by  any  means  thoroughbred.  Their 
blood  has  become  much  tainted,  especially  with  negro  blood. 
The  estimate  of  its  purity  runs  all  the  way  from  one-fifth  to 
four-fifths.  In  recent  years,  however,  they  have  a  very  string- 
ent rule  that  there  must  be  no  intermarrying  with  the  negroes. 
The  penalty  for  a  violation  of  this  rule  is  expulsion  from  all 
the  rights  and  privileges  of  the  tribe. 

They  live  under  a  pure  democracy,  being  governed  by  a 
chief  chosen  by  the  people,  and  by  a  council  of  four  men  as- 
sociated with  him.     Their  manner  of  election  is  curious  and 


68  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA. 

interesting.  Two  names  are  nominated  by  the  council  for 
presidential  chief,  one  known  as  Number  One,  and  the  other 
known  as  Number  Two.  Whoever  wishes  to  vote  for  Num- 
ber One  deposits  in  a  receptacle  placed  at  a  central  point  a 
grain  of  corn;  and  whoever  votes  for  Number  Two  deposits 
a  bean.  They  enforce  their  laws  rigidly,  although  penalties 
for  violations  of  law  do  not  seem  to  be  very  great,  consisting 
mainly  in  fines  and  expulsion  or  denial  of  the  rights  and  privi- 
leges of  the  tribe.  All  capital  offenses  are  tried  in  the  neigh- 
boring court  of  King  William  county. 

The  lands  are  held  in  common,  but  there  is  allotted  to 
each  head  of  the  family  eight  acres  of  ground.  This  land  or- 
dinarily remains  in  one  family  through  generations,  and  is 
only  transferred  when  there  are  no  heirs  laying  claim  to  it. 
Upon  these  eight  acres  they  build  their  house,  usually  a  story 
and  a  half  'high.  They  live  or  subsist  in  a  very  primitive 
fashion,  depending  upon  the  streams  and  woods  for  their  sup- 
port. Deer  is  sometimes  to  be  had  on  their  reservation.  They 
deal  considerably  in  furs  of  small  wild  animals.  The  streams 
abound  in  all  the  fish  known  to  the  Virginia  waters.  They 
capture  each  year  large  numbers  of  ducks  and  other  birds, 
especially  the  famous  and  toothsome  sora.  Their  manner 
of  killing  the  sora  is  interesting  and  peculiar.  Nowadays  they 
have  a  basket  of  iron  resembling  very  much  the  ordinary 
peach  basket.  In  it  is  put  the  pine  kindling  wood,  which  is 
ig^nited  and  set  in  the  marshes  or  in  front  of  their  canoes. 
The  birds  are  attracted  to  the  fire  in  vast  numbers,  and  are 
beaten  down  by  flails  in  the  hands  of  the  Indians.  They 
originally  had  as  a  receptacle  for  the  fire  what  they  called  a 
sora  horse.  It  was  made  of  clay,  and  was  hardened  much  as 
china  is.  One  of  these  sora  horses  was  found  by  Mr.  Pollard 
and  put  on  exhibition  at  the  Chicago  Exposition,  and  is  now 
at  the  Smithsonian  Institue  at  Washington. 


LAND-  OF  POWHATAN  AND  HIS  PEOPLE.       69 

They  pay  no  tribute  to  the  State,  except  that  it  has  be- 
come a  custom  to  furnish  to  the  Executive  Alansion  at  Rich- 
mond gifts  of  game  and  fish  each  year  in  varying  quantities. 

The  percentage  of  illiteracy  among  them  is  very  small. 
Most  of  them  know  how  to  read  and  write.  The  State  main- 
tains a  free  scliiool  on  the  reservation.  Some  years  ago  a 
negro  was  sent  as  teacher  at  the  school,  but  they  promptly 
dismissed  this  negro,  so  greatly  had  they  become  interested 
in  the  maintaining  of  their  race  pride.  When  one  thinks  of 
the  admixture  of  their  blood  with  the  negro,  one  is  bound  to 
think  that  here  is  a  case  of  where  "the  stable  is  locked  after 
the  horse  is  gone." 

They  are  a  very  religiously  inclined  people.  They  have 
on  their  reservation  a  church  which  they  attend  with  great 
unction  and  regularity.  The  membership  of  the  church  takes 
in  nearly  the  entire  tribe.  They  are  of  the  Baptist  faith,  and 
maintain  pleasant  and  fraternal  relations  with  that  body  in  the 
State. 

These  seem  to  be  the  sole  remnants  of  the  tribes  brought 
into  contact,  and,  alas !  too  often  into  conflict,  with  the  earl}^ 
settlers  of  Virginia.  They  are  the  residue  of  a  brave  and 
simple  people  that  fell  before  the  ruthless  march  of  civiliza- 
tion. 


CHAPTER  VI. 
POCAHONTAS,  THE  HEROINE  OF  JAMESTOWN. 

If  John  Smith,  in  the  story  of  the  Jamestown  settlement, 
is  the  hero,  Pocahontas,  the  daughter  of  Powhatan,  is  en- 
titled to  be  called  the  heroine.  In  the  study  of  the  life  of 
Captain  Smith,  we  have  already  been  introduced  to  the  wilder- 
ness princess.  So  far  as  history  reports,  the  English  at  James- 
town did  not  know  of  this  Indian  maiden  until  she  rescued 
the  life  of  John  Smith  in  the  winter  of  i6o7-'o8.  She  was  then 
a  mere  child  of  some  eleven  or  twelve  years.  Her  regard  for 
Smith  and  her  generous  spirit  were  the  means  of  establishing 
amicable  relations  between  her  people  and  the  little  band  of 
Englishmen. 

We  next  hear  of  Pocahontas,  in  this  same  winter  of  trial, 
leading,  at  frequent  intervals,  a  trail  of  Indians  into  the  colony 
bearing  supplies  for  the  starving  people.  The  weather  being 
exceedingly  cold,  such  excursions  must  have  been  attended 
with  great  discomfort,  It  not  absolute  suffering,  to  this  child 
of  the  forests.  Marion  Harland  describes  this  princess  of  the 
vv^ildemess,  leading  her  savage  followers  into  the  English  set- 
tlement, as  "a.  little  girl  wrapped  in  a  robe  of  doeskin,  lined 
and  edged  with  pigeon  down,'"  with  "a  white  heron's  feather 
in  her  black  hair,"  indicating  her  rank  as  a  King's  daughter. 
Her  visits  must  have  been  very  frequent,  for  it  is  said,  "Ever 
once  in  four  days  this  wild  train  visited  the  settlement  until 
the  peril  of  famine  was  passed."  It  is  evident  that  the  Indian 
maiden  was  very  much  at  heme  among  the  English  settlers. 

70 


POCAHONTAS— HEROINE   OF  JAMESTOWN.    71 

Mr.  Strachey  tells  that  'the  before  remembered  Pocahontas, 
Powhatan's  /daughter,  continues  resorting  to  our  fort.  Of 
the  age  then  of  eleven  (jr  twelve  years,  would  get  the  boys 
forth  with  her  into  the  market  places  and  make  them  wheel, 
falling  on  their  hands  and  turning  their  heels  upward,  whom 
she  would  follow  and  wheel  so  herself  all  the  fort  over."  This 
exploit  seems  to  give  some  ground  for  the  interpretation  that 
is  sometimes  given  to  the  name  of  Pocahontas.  It  is  said 
that  on  account  of  these  boyish  pranks  her  father  called  her 
Pocahontas,  which  means  "tom-boy."  It  is  generally  be- 
lieved, however,  that  the  word  means  "bright  stream  between 
two  hills." 

We  next  hear  of  Pocphontas  in  the  summer  of  1608,  at 
which  time  she  visited  Jamestown  to  beg  for  the  release  of 
some  Indians  who  were  detained  in  prison.  Her  request  was 
granted,  and  Smith  sent  her  away  with  presents. 

A  few  months  later  we  again  hear  of  Pocahontas  at  the 
time  Smith  had  gone  amongst  her  father's  people  to  announce 
that  the  King  of  England  had  sent  to  Powhatan,  in  token 
of  his  high  regard,  certain  presents,  and  desired  that  Powhatan 
CfOme  to  Jamestown  to  receive  these  presents  and  to  submit 
to  the  ceremonies  of  coronation.  On  Smith's  arrival  at  Wero- 
Vv'ocomoco,  Powhatan  w^s  absent,  and  while  Smith  waited 
for  the  return  of  the  aged  chief,  he  and  his  companions  were 
entertained  by  Pocahontas  and  her  maidens.  Smith  and  his 
companions  were  seated  m  an  open  field  before  a  fire  when 
they  heard  a  great  noise  and  shrieking.  They  seized  their 
arms,  thinking  that  Po^vhatan  had  treacherously  planned  to 
surprise  them ;  but  presently  Pocahontas  came  and  assured 
Smith  that  no  harm  was  meant,  and  that  she  would  suffer 
death  herself  before  any  hurt  should  befall  him.  Then  came 
thirty  young  women  from  the  woods,  their  bodies  painted 
with  many  colors,  but  each  one  in  a  different  fashion.     Poca- 


72  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA. 

hontas,  their  leader,  had  a  pair  of  buck's  horns  on  her  head, 
an  otter's  skin  at  her  girdle,  and  a  bow  and  arrow  in  her  hand. 
The  Indian  maidens  rushed  from  the  woods  with  great  shouts, 
and  forming  a  ring  they  executed  a  peculiar  wild  dance  around 
Smith  and  his  companions. 

The  next  day  Powhatan  arrived.  He  received  the  mes- 
sage from  Newport,  after  which,  drawing  himself  up  like  a 
great  monarch,  he  said :  "If  your  King  has  sent  me  presents, 
T  also  am  a  King,  and  this  is  my  land.  Eight  days  I  will  stay 
to  receive  them.  Your  father  i^  to  come  to  me,  not  I  to  him." 
Thus  Powhatan  refused  to  go  to  Jamestown  to  be  crowned, 
and  Captain  Newport  therefore  came  to  Powhatan's  home  on 
York  River  with  the  presents  from  King  James.  After  much 
persuasion  old  Powhatan  put  on  the  scarlet  robe,  but  when 
he  was  ordered  to  kneel  to  receive  the  crown,  he  positively 
refused  to  bend  his  knee.  "At  last,  by  leaning  hard  on  his 
shoulders,  he  a  little  stooped,  and  Newport  put  the  crown  on 
his  head."  The  English  then  fired  a  salute  in  honor  of  Pow- 
hatan, the  King,  who  started  up  with  great  fear  until  he  saw 
that  no  harm  was  meant. 

In  the  winter  of  1608  the  colony  was  in  great  distress  from 
lack  of  provisions.  Powhatan  kne-yy  of  its  condition  and  in- 
vited Smith  to  make  him  a  visit  at  Werowocomoco,  with  the 
request  that  Smith  should  build  him  a  house,  give  him  a 
grindstone,  fifty  swords,  some  firearms,  a  hen  and  rooster, 
and  much  beads  and  copper.  In  return  for  these  Powhatan 
promised  large  supplies  cf  corn.  Smith  was  only  too  glad  to 
accept  the  invitation,  for  Jie  had  come  to  believe  that  the  old 
chief  had  made  up  his  mind  to  starve  the  colony  by  withhold- 
ing all  supplies  of  corn  and  refusing  all  efforts  at  any  trade 
for  the  same.  Already  he  had  determined  upon  extreme  and 
desperate  measures,  nothing  less  than  the  capture  of  Pow- 
hatan himself  and  the  holding  of  him  as  a  ransom  for  food. 


POCAHONTAS— HEROINE   OF  JAMESTOWN.    73 

It  seems  that  Powhatan  had  been  doing-  some  thinking-  and 
planning-  himself.  He  had  about  come  to  the  conclusion  that 
unless  something  was  done  to  the  Englishmen  they  would 
eventually  drive  him  and  his  people  further  inward,  and  he  in 
turn  was  planning  to  capture  Smith ;  hence  his  very  gracious 
good  cheer  to  the  storm-bound  group  far  away  from  the  bless- 
ings of  their  English  homes.  Yet  even  at  such  a  time,  and 
upon  in  the  effort  to  entertain  his  brave  followers  and  to  bring 
invitation. 

The  weather  was  exceedingly  cold,  and  Smith  and  his 
party  made  slow  headway  in  sailing.  On  account  of  stormy 
weather,  they  were  comoelled  to  stop  at  the  village  of  Ke- 
coughtan  and  to  spend  a  week.  It  was  Christmas  time.  Here 
they  were  feasted  on  oysters,  venison  and  wild  fowl.  We 
are  told,  also,  that  Smith  and  two  of  his  companions  amused 
themselves  by  hunting,  and  killed  one  hundred  and  forty- 
eight  wild  fowl  in  three  shots.  One  can  imagine  how  these 
Englishmen  on  Christmas  eve  gathered  close  around  the  fire 
in  one  of  the  rude  Indian  huts,  and  how  their  thoughts  must 
have  crossed  lOver  the  seas  to  their  old  homes  and  firesides  in 
England.  ]\Ien  less  brave  and  determined,  under  such  a  spell, 
would  have  quailed  before  the  dangers  and  uncertainties  of 
the  journey  upon  which  they  had  come.  The  marvelous  re- 
source of  their  brave  captain  must  have  been  mightily  drav/n 
under  such  unpropitious  circumstances,  the  brave,  good  nature 
of  the  sturdy  Englishman  undoubtedly  asserted  itself,  and 
before  the  evening  was  far  spent  many  a  shout  of  laughter 
might  have  been  heard  by  any  eavesdropping  Indian.  One 
wonders  if  the  Christmas-tide  softened  in  any  way  their  feel- 
ing towards  the  Indians,  and  if,  yielding  to  its  gracious  spell, 
they  took  up  their  journey  less  intent  upon  doing  violent  harm 
or  hurt  because  of  the  lonelv  Christmas  eve  they  had  spent 
together  around  the  fire  in  the  rude  cabin  planted  in  the 
midst  of  an  untamed  wilderness. 


^4  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA. 

After  the  week  had  expired  they  took  up  their  journey, 
and  finally  reached  Werowocomoco  on  the  12th  of  January. 
The  ice  covered  the  York  River  from  shore  to  shore,  leaving 
lonly  the  narrowest  channel  in  the  middle  of  the  river.  After 
eoming  ashore  through  the  frozen  marshlands,  the  English- 
men found  shelter  for  themselves  in  the  nearest  cabins.  Smith 
sent  a  message  to  Powhatan  announcing  that  he  was  in  the 
neighborhood,  and  asking  that  he  furnish  them  with  provis- 
ions. The  chief  answered  in  his  usual  generous  way,  sending 
great  quantities  of  bread,  venison  and  turkeys.  The  next  day 
he  perpetrated  a  piece  of  grim  sarcasm  by  sending  a  very 
polite  request  to  know  when  they  were  going  to  move  on. 
He  added  that,  if  they  had  come  for  corn  they  would  be  dis- 
appointed, because  he  himself  had  no  corn  and  that  his  peo- 
ple had  less  than  he  had ,  but  if  they  wanted  corn  very  much, 
he  might  be  able  to  get  them  a  little  in  exchange  for  swords. 
Smith  complained  that  this  treatment  was  unjust,  as  he  had 
come  by  invitation.  Powhatan  treated  the  matter  as  though 
it  was  a  great  joke,  and  asked  the  Englishmen  to  proceed  to 
show  their  goods,  insisting,  however,  that  he  had  no  corn  to 
exchange  except  for  swords  and  guns.  Smith  gave  him  to 
understand,  as  plainly  as  possible,  that  any  exchange  of  swords 
or  guns  was  absolutely  impossible,  and  then  followed  a  long 
and  skilful  parley.  Greek  met  Greek;  it  was  give  and  take 
through  the  livelong  dav  between  two  smart  masters  of  diplo- 
macy, each  looking  for  the  opportunity  to  have  the  other  in 
his  power.  Smith  requested  that  the  savages  break  the  ice 
fiom  the  river  bank  so  that  his  boat  might  come  to  the  shore 
and  take  himself  and  the  corn  aboard.  He  was  not  feeling 
altogether  comfortable  with  the  bulk  of  his  men  so  far  re- 
moved from  him,  and  he  thought  that  if  these  men  could  be 
brought  ashore  he  might  be  able  to  surprise  the  old  chief. 
While  they  were  waiting  for  the  Indians  to  break  away  the 


POCAHONTAS— HEROINE   OF  JAMESTOWN.    75 

Ice,  Smith  was  beguiling  the  old  chief  with  a  most  engag-ing- 
and  moving  address,  protesting  his  great  devotion  to  the  chief, 
whom  he  called,  with  great  imction,  "Father";  but  Powhatan 
was  somewhat  of  an  orator  himself,  and  knew  quite  as  well 
as  Smith  how  to  employ  smooth  and  soothing  terms  of  en- 
dearment, exchanging  every  time  a  Roland  for  Smith's  Oli- 
ver. It  was  soon  discovered  that  Powhatan  was  not  to  be 
easily  fooled.  He  succeeded  finally  in  breaking  away  from 
Captain  Smith's  bewitching  eloquence  and  fled  unceremoni- 
ously with  his  v/omen  and  children.  It  looked  as  though  it 
was  with  this  desperate  effort  that  he  shook  off  the  witchery 
into  which  Smith  was  slowly  hypnotizing  him.  To  avoid  any 
suspicion,  he  took  the  precaution  of  leaving  behind  him  two 
or  three  women  who  were  to  engage  Smith,  holding  his  at- 
tention while  the  Powhatan  v/arriors  surrounded  the  cabin  in 
which  they  were.  Smith,  to  avoid  capture,  rushed  from  the 
cabin  and  fired  his  pistol.  The  savages  tumbled  over  each 
othen  in  their  haste  to  get  safely  beyond  the  reach  of  the 
bullets. 

Powhatan  was  greatly  chagrined  at  the  failure  of  this 
strategy,  and  he  realized  that  something  ought  to  be  done  to 
remove  the  unfavorable  impression  which  the  sudden  and 
violent  appearance  of  so  many  of  his  men  must  have  made 
upon  the  minds  of  the  Englishmen.  Accordingly,  he  sent  a 
deputy  to  convey  to  Captain  Smith  the  assurances  of  his  great 
affection,  and  ask  that  he  accept  as  tokens  of  his  good  will 
the  bracelet  and  a  string  of  pearls.  In  the  meanwhile  a  num- 
ber of  Indians  brought  baskets  of  corn  to  load  Smith's  vessel 
with,  and,  with  a  most  amusing  naivete,  offered  to  guard  the 
guns  of  the  English  while  they  loaded  the  boat.  Smith  de- 
clared that  a  proceeding  just  to  the  reverse  of  that  would  be 
more  to  his  liking,  and  proceeded  to  persuade  them  to  lay 
down  their  arms,  which  the  Englislimen  guarded  while  the 


76  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA. 

Indiani  with  celerity  carried  the  corn  aboard,  having-  lost,  at 
the  sight  of  their  loaded  and  lighted  g-uns  in  the  hands  of  the 
Englishmen,  whatever  valorous  intention  they  may  have  har- 
bored. 

On  account  of  the  lov/  tide  Smith  and  his  companions  were 
obliged  to  remain  over  night  at  Werowocomoco.  They  ac- 
cordingly returned  to  the  cabins  in  which  they  had  been  quar- 
tered. The  savages  remained  with  them  until  nightfall,  en- 
tertaining them  with  many  merry  savage  sports. 

In  the  meantime  Pov/hatan  was  calling  together  his  forces 
and  ag'itating  the  destruction  of  his  g^uests.  The  Eng-lishmen 
were  alone  in  the  Indian  cabin.  Suddenly  Pocahontas,  whom 
Smith  described  as  "Powhatan's  dearest  jewel  and  daug^hter," 
appeared  in  the  cabin  before  the  Englishmen.  She  had  come 
through  the  dark  and  cold  night  unattended  from  her  father's 
cabin.  She  told  the  English  that  Powhatan  had  provided  a 
great  feast  for  their  supper,  and  that  he  conspired  to  come 
suddenly  upon  them  preoccupied  with  their  supper  and  with 
thein  own  weapons  destroy  them.  She  therefore  earnestly 
advised  that,  if  they  cared  for  their  lives,  they  would  be  gone 
immediately.  Captain  Smith,  grateful  for  this  brave  and 
timely  warning,  pressed  some  gifts  upon  the  Indian  princess, 
things  that  the  childish  heart  must  have  greatly  delighted  in; 
but  she  said,  with  tears  in  her  eyes,  *T  dare  not  to  be  seen  to 
have  any,  for  if  Powhatan  should  know  it  I  am  but  dead,"  and 
she  ran  away  into  the  woods  and  disappeared  out  of  sight. 
It  turned  out  surely  enough  as  she  had  spoken.  The  savages 
came  bringing  great  platters  of  things  to  eat.  They  begged 
the  Englishmen  to  put  out  the  matches  to  their  guns,  as  the 
smoke  made  them  very  sick,  and  to  sit  down  and  eat  their 
supper.  Captain  Smith  made  the  Indians  to  eat  first  of  every 
dish,  and  then  sent  them  back  to  Powhatan,  telling  him  to 
make  haste,  for  he  was  awaiting  his  arrival.     Thrpugh  the 


POCAHONTAS— HEROINE  OF  JAMESTOWN.    ^T 

nig-ht  there  was  constant  coming-  and  going  of  messengers 
back  and  forth  from  the  chief,  and  though  to  every  appearance 
they  were  on  friendly  terms,  they  were  exceedingly  careful 
and  vigilant  lest  one  party  or  the  other  might  come  to  some 
unexpected  and  sudden  advantage  over  the  other.  At  the 
coming  of  high  tide  the  Englishmen  departed.  They  visited 
the  Pamunkey  and  the  Matapony  Indians  in  search  of  pro- 
visions, and  finally  returned  to  Jamestown  with  four  hundred 
and  seventy-nine  bushels  of  corn  and  two  hundred  pounds  of 
deer  suet.  But  for  the  timely  warning  given  by  Pocahontas, 
Smith  would  probably  have  been  seized  and  put  to  death  at 
Weriowocomoco. 

On  Smith's  departure  from  the  colony,  PocaSnontas  seems 
to  have  utterly  dropped  out  of  sight.  When  we  next  find  her 
she  is  with  the  Potomac  Indians,  where  it  is  said  she  had  gone 
to  visit  friends  of  hers.  It  is  thought  that  the  story  of  her 
betrayal  of  the  conspiracy  to  attack  Smith  and  his  company 
while  they  were  at  supper  had  reached  the  ears  of  her  father, 
Powhatan,  and  that  he  had  made  her  life  so  wretched  that  she 
left  home  in  order  to  escape  his  incessant  anger.  She  had 
gone  to  the  wigwam  of  one  Japazaws,  said  to  be  an  old  ac- 
duaintance  of  Captain  Smith,  and  to  be  kindly  disposed  to 
Englishmen. 

Early  in  1612  Argall  had  been  sent  out  by  Governor  Dale 
on  an  expedition  to  secure  corn  and  provisions  from  the  In- 
dians, and  on  this  expedition  he  visited  the  Potomac  Indians 
and  discovered  among  them  Pocahontas.  It  seems  that  in 
some  way  she  regarded  herself  as  being-  in  retirement,  and 
trusted  that  no  one  would  recognize  her.  Argall  conceived 
the  idea  that  if  Pocahontas  could  be  kidnapped  and  held  as 
hostage,  Powhatan  might  be  dealt  with  more  successfully. 
The  hostility  of  Powhatan  was  becoming  more  manifest  every 
day.     After  the  departure  of  Smith  he  was  at  little  pains  ta 


78  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA. 

disguise  his  hatred  of  the  Englishmen  and  his  purpose  to  be 
rid  of  them  in  any  way  possible.  He  was  perfectly  v^illing 
that  they  should  be  allowed  to  starve  in  their  isolation.  Argall, 
in  accomplishing  his  kidnapping  scheme,  sought  an  interview 
Vv^ith  Japazaws,  and  offered  the  bribe  of  a  copper  kettle  to  him 
and  his  wife  if  they  would  assist  him.  It  was  agreed  in  their 
conspiracy  that  the  maid  should  be  beguiled  aboard  Argall's 
ship.  Curiously  enough,  like  other  hunted  things,  she  seemed 
especially  to  avoid  the  vessel  of  the  English.  However,  the 
wife  of  Japazaws  was  consumed  with  a  great  and  urgent  de- 
sire to  see  an  English  ship.  Her  husband  stubbornly  refused 
to  allow  her  to  go  on  such  a  visit,  and  declared  that  if  she 
said  anything  more  about  it  he  would  give  her  a  gpod  whip- 
ping. As  was  anticipated,  the  tend.er  heart  of  the  Indian 
maiden  was  touched,  and  out  of  sheer  pity  she  agreed  to  go 
with  the  woman  if  her  husband  would  permit.  Japazaws 
yielded  reluctantly,  and  the  three  of  them  were  taken  aboard 
the  ship.  They  remained  to  supper.  The  old  chief  and  his 
v/ife,  like  silly  children,  were  greatly  elated  at  the  success  of 
their  scheme,  and  kept  tramping  on  Argall's  toes  under  the 
table  in  their  glee  and  excitement.  When  it  was  told  to 
Pocahontas  that  she  was  a  prisoner  and  would  be  taken  to 
Jamestown,  Japazaws  and  his  loving  spouse  set  up  a  great 
howl  of  lamentation.  The  old  people  being  taken  ashore, 
however,  became  at  once  greatly  pleased  in  the  possession  of 
the  copper  kettle  and  some  other  trifling  trinkets.  Pocahon- 
tas was  reassured  by  Argall,  who  told  her  that  she  should  be 
treated  kindly  and  would  have  every  protection,  and  that  by 
such  a  means  as  her  captivity  he  expected  to  be  able  to  es- 
tablish permanent  peace  relations  between  the  Englishmen 
and  her  father.  On  the  return  to  Jamestown  Captain  Argall 
sent  forthwith  messengers  to  Powhatan,  telling  him  that  he 
held  as  hostage  his  "delight  and  darling,  his  daughter  Poca- 


POCAHONTAS— HEROINE   OF  JAMESTOWN.    79 

hontas,"  and  that  if  he  would  send  home  the  EngHshmen  that 
be  held  in  captivity,  and  the  tools  and  arms  that  the  Indians 
had  gotten  and  stolen,  together  with  a  quantity  of  corn,  his 
daughter  would  be  restored  to  him;  otherwise  she  would  be 
kept  as  a  prisoner.  Powhatan  appeared  to  be  in  great  dis- 
tress over  these  tidings.  On  the  one  hand  he  had  a  very 
great  affection  fjor  his  dauj^hter,  and  on  the  other  hand  he  was 
mightily  enamored  of  the  English  weapons  which  had  come 
into  his  possession.  He  could  not  make  up  his  mind  which 
horn  of  the  dilemma  to  lay  hold  of.  He  therefore  pursued 
the  policy  of  masterful  inactivity  and  refused  either  horn  of 
the  dilemma.  As  many  as  three  months  passed  before  the 
Englishmen  and  Pocahontas  received  any  answer  to  this  pro- 
position. At  the  expiration  of  that  time,  however,  Powhatan 
sent  to  the  Governor,  by  way  of  ransom,  seven  Englishmen, 
three  muskets,  one  broad-ax,  a  whip-saw  and  a  canoe  full  of 
corn.  He  sent  a  message  saying  in  effect  that  when  his 
daughter  was  delivered  up  he  would  still  further  satisfy  all 
injuries  by  furnishing  the  Englishmen  with  a  large  quanti.y 
of  corn,  and  would  be  forever  their  friend.  This  advance  pay- 
ment was  received  by  the  English,  and  they  sent  a  message 
to  Powhatan,  saying:  "Your  daughter  shall  be  well  used,  but 
we  cannot  believe  that  ihe  rest  of  our  arms  were  either  lost 
or  stolen  from  you,  and  therefore  until  you  send  them  we  will 
"keep  your  daughter."  The  old  chief  was  greatly  grieved  and 
offended  at  this  answer,  and  for  a  long  time  had  no  intercourse 
with  the  English.  Finally,  in  the  spring  of  1612,  Governor 
Dale,  taking  with  him  Pocahontas  and  one  hundred  and  fifty 
men,  in  the  vessels  of  the  colony,  went  on  a  visit  to  Powhatan. 
The  Indian  chief  refused  to  see  them  on  their  arrival.  Dale 
told  the  Indians  that  he  had  brought  Pocahontas,  and  was 
anxious  to  deliver  her  back  into  the  hands  of  her  father,  pro- 
vided Powhatan  would  return  the  rest  of  the  Englishmen  re- 


8o  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA. 

mainingf  in  captivity  and  the  arms  that  had  not  been  surren- 
dered. The  Indians  received  these  propositions  with  scorn  and 
threats  and  in  open  hostility.  Some  slight  skirmishes  ensued 
between  the  two  forces,  in  which  some  Indian  houses  were 
burned.  The  Indians  declared  that  the  imprisoned  English- 
men had  been  sent  away  for  safety,  as  they  were  in  fear  of 
being  hung  by  their  own  countiymen,  but  that  Powhatan  had 
sent  some  of  his  men  to  bring  them  back.  They  declared  that 
these  prisoners,  with  the  withheld  swords  and  muskets,  should 
be  returned  the  following  day.  It  was  evident  that  they  were 
playing  for  time.  In  the  meantime  two  brothers  of  Pocahon- 
tas came  to  visit  her  on  the  ship  anchored  in  the  river.  They 
seemed  to  be  greatly  overjoyed  to  find  her  in  such  good  health 
and  contentment,  for  they  had  been  told  that  her  health  was 
poor  and  that  she  was  very  unhappy.  While  these  Indian 
youths  were  making  their  visit  to  their  sister,  Mr.  Rolfe  an  5 
Mr.  Sparks  were  sent  to  interview  Powhatan.  They  were 
accorded  every  liospitality,  but  were  denied  the  oresence  of 
the  great  chief,  Powhatan  refused  to  see  his  daughter  or  to 
return  the  prisoners  and  arms,  or  to  enter  into  any  sort  of 
arrangement  for  peace.  The  Englishmen  were  obliged  to  re- 
turn to  Jamestown,  for  it  was  now  time  that  they  should  be 
about  the  planting  of  the  crops  for  the  new  year. 

Pocahontas  remained  a  nominal  prisoner  at  Jamestown 
for  about  a  year.  She  was  treated  with  marked  consideration 
and  kindness  by  every  one.  She  had  always  had  the  warmest 
feeling  for  the  English  settlers,  and  her  life  of  imprisonment 
was  not  altogether  a  hardship.  She  was  now  a  woman  about 
eighteen  or  nineteen  years  eld. 

Amongst  the  colonists  who  took  great  interest  in  the 
princess  was  a  Mr.  John  Rolfe,  who  was  a  widower  of  not 
very  many  months'  standing,  and  who  is  described  as  an 
"honest  gentleman  of  good  behavior ;"  "an  hpnest  and  discreet 


POCAHONTAS— HEROINE  OF  JAMESTOWN.    8i 

English  g-entleman ;"  "a  j^-entleman  of  apprpvea  behavior  and  ■ 
honest  carriaj^e."  Alon^f  with  Somers  and  Gates,  he  had  been 
wrecked  on  the  Bermuda  Islands  in  1609,  and  with  them  he 
reached  Virginia  in  May,  1610,  bringing  his  wife  and  his  child, 
born  while  they  lingered  with  the  wrecked  party  on  the  Ber- 
muda Islands.  Mr.  Rolfe  exhibited  great  concern  as  to  the 
conversion  of  Pocahontas  to  the  Christian  faith,  and  sought 
wdth  persistent  assiduity  to  bring  her  within  the  Christian 
fold.  While  he  was  in  the  prosecution  of  this  most  worthy 
puipose,  he  conceived  the  idea  of  marrying  the  Indian  maiden, 
and  from  all  appearances  fell  very  much  in  love  with  her.  It 
has,  however,  been  suggested  that  Mr.  Rolfe  was  not  alto- 
gether free  from  some  ulterior  ends.  It  was  suspected  of  him 
that  he  had  concluded  that  such  an  alliance  might  in  some 
way  accrue  to  his  advantage  before  the  English  court,  and 
might  secure  for  him  some  title  to  leadership  in  America.  At 
any  rate,  Rolfe  wrote  a  letter  to  Sir  Thomas  Dale  asking  his 
advice  about  marrying  the  maiden.  Sir  Thomas  thought  it  a 
great  scheme,  and  gave  prompt  and  hearty  consent.  More- 
over, Pocahontas  informed  one  of  her  brothers  of  her  tender 
attachment  for  Mr.  Rolfe.  Powhatan,  when  informed  of  this 
inatrimonial  scheme,  seems  to  have  been  as  immensely  pleased 
with  the  idea  as  all  others  were.  When  the  time  for  the  mar- 
riage approached,  he  sent  an  old  uncle  and  two  brothers  of 
Pocahontas  to  Jamestown  as  his  deputies  to  witness  the  mar- 
riage of  his  daughter.  It  was  thought  that  it  would  never  in 
the  world  do  for  so  pious  a  man  as  Mr.  Rolfe  to  be  unequally 
}  oked  with  the  pagan  maiden,  and  it  was  determined  that  be- 
fore the  marriage  w^as  celebrated  she  must  be  baptized  into 
the  Christian  communion  and  take  upon  herself  a  Christian 
name.  Accordingly  she  was  baptized,  and  called  in  her  chris- 
tening "Rebecca,"  and  because  she  was  a  king's  daughter  she 
v/as  entitled  to  be  knovv^n  as  the  "Lady  Rebecca." 


B^  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA. 

Early  in  April,  1613,  the  Lady  Rebecca  and  Mr.  John  Rolfe 
were  united  in  marriage  in  the  old  church  at  Jamestown. 
The  Indian  bride  was  accompanied  by  her  two  brothers,  anJ 
at  the  altar  she  was  given  away  by  her  pld  uncle.  The  cere- 
mony was  performed  by  the  Rev.  Alexander  Whitaker.  The 
wedding  is  mentioned  in  some  of  the  old  records  only  as  an 
incident  related  to  the  welfare  of  the  colony.  It  seems  a 
great  pity  that  there  was  not  a  more  elaborate  and  detailed 
record  made  of  this  unique  alliance.  The  ciolonists  evidently 
regarded  it  as  a  most  auspicious  event,  and  thought  that  it 
would  prove  to  be  a  powerful  factor  in  the  maintenance  of 
amicable  relations  with  Powhatan  and  his  people. 

It  may  not  be  uninteresting  to  raise  the  question  here  of 
her  former  marriage  to  an  Indian  chief.  Mr.  Strachey  alone 
furnishes  ground  for  such  a  view.  In  speaking  of  Powhatan's 
family  he  uses  this  language :  "And  besides  young  Pocahon- 
tas, a  daughter  pf  his,  use  some  time  to  our  fort  in  times 
passed,  now  married  to  a  private  captain  called  'Kococum,' 
some  two  years  since."  In  view  of  this  statement  some  his- 
torians speak  of  her  as  having  been  separated  from  her  Indian 
husband,  arid  others  as  being  a  widow.  It  is  not  by  any 
means  improbable  that  Mr.  Strachey  was  in  some  confusion 
about  this  matter.  He  had  been  away  from  the  settlement 
two  years  before  his  account  was  written.  His  information 
must  have  been,  therefore,  only  hearsay.  It  would  have  been 
easy  to  have  confused  the  name  of  Pocahontas  with  some 
other  daughter  of  Powhatan's,  or  he  might  have  confused  the 
name  of  Captain  Kococum  with  that  of  Captain  Rolfe.  The 
name  "captain"  was  rarely  given  to  an  Indian,  so  it  is  not 
improbable  that  Mr.  Strachey  had  heard  only  of  the  marriage 
cf  Pocahontas  to  Captain  Rolfe.  Other  than  this  statement 
of  Mr.  Strachey's  there  seems  to  be  no  foundation  for  the  sug- 
gestion that  she  had  been  married  before. 


POCAHONTAS— HEROINE   OF  JAMESTOWN.    83 

The  hopes  touching-  the  effect  of  this  marriag-e  upon  the 
relations  of  the  settlers  to  the  Indians  were  in  a  very  great 
part  realized,  for  from  the  day  of  the  marriag-e  the  English 
traded  on  friendly  terms  with  Powhatan  and  his  people.  As 
far  as  the  old  chief  was  concerned,  he  never  violated  the  peace 
that  was  thus  broug-ht  about. 

After  the  marriage  of  Pocahontas  and  Mr.  Rolfe,  they 
went  to  live  at  Rolfe's  home,  "Varina,"  in  one  of  the  new 
settlements  along-  the  James  River,  known  as  Bermuda  Hun- 
dred. Here  lived  Mr.  Whitaker,  who  had  charge  of  the  spirit- 
ual interests  of  the  plantation,  and  also  Sir  Thomas  Dale 
made  this  his  place  of  residence  instead  of  Jamestown. 

Speaking  of  Pocahontas  after  her  marriage,  Sir  Thomas 
Dale  declared,  "She  lived  civilly  and  lovingly  with  her  hus- 
band, and  I  trust  will  increase  in  goodness  as  the  knowledge 
of  God  increases  in  her.  She  will  come  to  England  with  me, 
and  were  it  but  the  gaining  of  this  one  soul,  I  will  think  my 
time,  toil  and  present  time  as  well  spent." 

These  three.  Dale,  Whitaker  and  Rolfe,  gave  themselves 
enthusiastically  and  industriously  to  the  instruction  of  Poca- 
hontas, both  in  the  matter  of  religion  and  in  making  her  ac- 
quainted with  the  English  tongue  and  customs.  She  was  an 
eager  and  an  apt  pupil.  She  had  always  been  interested  in 
all  things  appertaining  to  the  English  people,  and  now  gave 
herself  with  great  zeal  to  the  task  of  becoming  familiar  with 
the  traditions  and  forms  of  English  life.  It  was  at  her  home, 
**Varina,"  that  her  little  son,  Thomas  Rolfe,  was  born. 

When  Dale,  in  1616,  embarked  for  England,  he  carried 
with  him  Mr.  Rolfe,  his  wife  and  child,  Tomocomo,  and  other 
Indians  of  both  sexes.  The  vessel  reached  Plymouth  in  June, 
1616.  Immediately  upon  the  arrival  of  Pocahontas  she  be- 
came the  guest  of  the  Virginia  Company,  who  provided  meas- 
ures for  the  support  and  entertainment  of  her  and  her  child. 


84  COLONIAL   VIRGINIA. 

Great  interest  was  taken  in  her  by  all  classes  of  people,  but 
especially  by  persons  of  great  rank  and  calling,  she  being  re- 
garded as  a  real  princess,  the  daughter  of  a  King  in  the  wilder- 
ness, who  ruled,  as  did  English  sovereigns,  by  divine  right. 
Tomocomo  excited  widespread  interest  and  curiosity,  he  be- 
ing liooked  upon  as  an  "understanding  fellow."  Powhatan  had 
given  him  certain  important  missions  to  be  discharged.  One 
of  his  duties  while  abroad  was  tp  count  all  the  English  people, 
and  to  be  able  to  give,  on  his  return,  an  exact  idea  of  their 
strength.  He  was  also  charged  with  the  task  of  ascertaining 
if  there  were  any  forests  or  grain  in  the  country.  He  was 
also,  when  opportunity  was  furnished,  to  seek  an  introduction 
to  the  God  of  the  Englishmen.  He  said  to  Captain  Smith ; 
"Powhatan  did  bid  me  to  find  you  out  to  show  me  your  God, 
and  the  King  and  Queen  and  princes  you  so  much  told  us." 
"Concerning  God,"  said  Smith,  "I  told  him  the  best  I  could. 
The  King  he  heard  of  he  had  seen,  and  the  rest  he  should  see 
when  he  would." 

On  the  occasion  of  this  visit  to  England  on  the  part  of 
Pocahontas,  John  Smith  sought  in  her  behalf  the  favor  pf 
Queen  Anne.  He  addressed  to  her  a  letter  in  which  he  re- 
cited the  virtues  of  Pocahontas  and  her  services  to  him  and 
to  the  English  colony,  telling  for  the  first  time  the  story  of 
the  rescue  of  his  life  b}'  Piocahontas.  On  account  of  these 
things  he  asked  for  her  queenly  consideration  of  the  Indian 
maiden.  It  seems  that  Smith  was  somewhat  delayed  in  see- 
ing Pocahontas,  and  somewhat  formal  in  his  conduct  in  her 

presence,  and  that  his  coijduct  greatly  distressed  her.  The 
truth  is  that  she  had  been  led  to  believe  that  he  was  dead, 
and  was  as  much  surprised  to  find  him  alive  as  she  was  pained 
by  his  distant  and  formal  treatment.  What  the  necessity 
was  for  telling  her  that  Smith  v/as  dead  is  not  very  clearly 
shown.     There  is  the  inevitable  presumption  that  those  next 


POCAHONTAS— HEROINE   OF  JAMESTOWN.    85 

to  her  and  ^Ir.  Rolfe  suspected  an  ardent  attachment  on  her 
part  for  Smith,  and  not  until  she  was  assured  of  his  death 
could  there  be  any  hope  that  Mr.  Rolfe  might  press  his  suit 
successfully.  Such  deceit  seems  to  be  utterly  incongruous 
with  the  pious  protestations  of  Mr.  Rolfe,  who  sought  above 
all  things  her  conversion  to  Christianity.  However  these 
things  may  be,  Pocahontas  was. greatly  distressed  that  Smith 
should  treat  her  in  any  way  than  as  a  father  should  treat  a 
child.  She  said  to  Smith :  "You  did  promise  Powhatan  what 
was  yours  should  be  his,  and  he  the  like  to  you.  You  called 
him  'Father,'  being  in  his  land  a  stranger,  and  for  the  same 
reason  so  must  I  do  to  you."  Smith  protested,  and  explained 
that  their  relations  could  not  be  in  England  as  they  were  in' 
America,  and  that  he  "durst  not  allow  that  title,  because  she 
was  regarded  as  a  King's  daughter."  "Were  you  not  afraid," 
said  Pocahontas,  "to  coma  into  my  father's  country  and  cause 
fear  in  him  and  all  his  people  but  me,  and  fear  you  here  I 
should  call  you  father?  I  tell  you  then  I  will,  and  you  shall 
call  me  chid,  and  so  I  will  be  forever  and  ever  your  country- 
man. They  did  tell  us  always  5'ou  were  dead,  and  I  knew 
no  other  until  I  came  to  Plymouth." 

During  his  brief  stay  in  London  Captain  Smith  saw  much 
of  Pocahontas,  and  was  pleased  to  introduce  to  her  many 
courtiers  and  other  friends  who  wished  to  know  the  Indian 
lady.  "The  gentlemen,"  said  Smith,  "generally  concluded 
they  did  think  God  had  a  great  hand  in  her  conversion, 
and  said  they  had  seen  many  English  ladies  worse  favored, 
proportioned  and  behavioured."  Pocahontas  was  presented 
to  the  court,  accompanied  by  Lady  Delaware,  and  met  both 
King  James  and  his  wife,  Queen  Anne. 

Captain  Argall  was  about  to  sail  for  Virginia  as  Governon 
of  the  colony.  It  was  determined  that  the  party,  except  the 
Other  Indians,  should  return  with  him.     While  in  England  a 


86  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA, 

portrait  of  Pocahontas  was  made,  and  beneath  the  portrait 
was  this  inscription:  "Matoax  als  Rebecca,  daughter  to  the 
mighty  Prince  Powhatan,  Emperor  of  Attanough-Kornouck 
als  Virginia,  converted  and  baptized  in  the  Christian  faith, 
and  wife  to  the  worshipful  Mr.  John  Rolfe,  age  21,  Anno 
Domini  1616."  There  is  also  an  idealized  portrait  by  the 
artist  Sully,  but  unfortunately  there  is  nothing  to  indicate  the 
Indian  maiden  as  she  really  was  in  the  wilderness  of  Virginia. 

Pocahontas  seemed  to  be  unwilling  to  leave  England,  and, 
indeed,  she  was  destined  never  again  to  s^ee  Virginia.  She 
was  seized  with  galloping  consumption  and  died,  it  is  said, 
with  her  face  towards  the  sea,  at  Gravesend,  on  the  eve  of  her 
departure  for  America.  Smith,  in  his  history,  speaks  of  her 
death  in  this  wise:  "It  pleased  God,  at  Gravesend,  to  take 
this  young  lady  to  His  mercy,  where  she  made  not  more  sor^ 
ix)w  for  her  unexpected  death  than  joy  to  the  beholders  to 
hear  and  see  her  make  so  religious  and  godly  an  end." 

Her  child,  Thomas  Rolfe,  was  left  in  England  under  the 
care  of  his  uncle,  Mr.  H.  Rolfe,  a  merchant  in  London.  He 
was  educated  in  England,  and  afterwards  returned  to  America, 
and  from  him  are  descended  some  of  the  most  respectable  and 
worthy  families  of  Virginia.  Among  them  were  such  fam- 
ilies as  Murray,  Fleming,  Gay,  Whittle,  Robertson,  Boiling 
and  Eldridge,  as  well  as  the  branch  of  Randolphs  to  which 
the  famous  John  Randolph  of  Roanoke  belonged. 

One  turns  naturally  to  Mrs.  Sigourney's  poems  for  a  con- 
cluding verse: 

"The  council  fires  are  quenched  that  erst  so  red 

Their  midnight  volume  'mid  the  groves  entwined. 
King,  stately  chief,  warrior  host,  are  dead. 

Nor  remnant  nor  memory  left  behind. 
But  thou,  O  forest  princess!  true  of  heart 
When  o'er  our  fathers  waved  destruction's  dart, 

Shalt  in  their  children's  loving  hearts  be  shrined; 
Pure,  lovely  star  o'er  oblivion's  wave. 
It  is  not  meet  thy  name  should  moulder  in  the  grave." 


CHAPTER  VII. 
THE  TRAVAIL  OF  THE  NATION. 

Nations  are  born  as  individuals,  in  pain  and  suffering. 
There  seems  to  be  a  necessity  in  the  Divine  order  that  there 
should  always  be  in  a  national  life  a  preliminary  stage  of 
painful  waiting  and  delay.  Out  of  the  hot  fires  of  sorrow 
and  trial  is  born  that  solidarity  that  makes  national  life  pos- 
sible and  real.  This  country  has  been  no  exception  to  God's 
great  order.  In  the  travail  of  brave  settlers  and  heroic  pio- 
neers the  nation  came  to  its  life. 

The  exuberant  spirits  of  the  colonists  incident  to  their 
first  landing  at  Jamestown  slowly  passed  away  as  the  sum- 
mer and  fall  approached.  It  soon  began  to  dawn  upon  these 
adventurers  that  they  were  not  out  on  a  picnic.  After  the 
excitement  of  their  first  contact  with  the  New  World  they 
were  confronted  with  the  grave  and  practical  work  of  main- 
taining themselves  under  strange  and  unpropitious  circum- 
stances. 

It  has  already  been  remarked  that  the  location  of  James- 
town Island  was  unfortunate  because  of  its  unsanitary  condi- 
tions and  lack  of  wholesome  drinking  water.  The  colonists 
were  at  first  dependent  upon  the  brackish  water  of  the  river, 
which,  even  at  lowest  ebb  tide,  was  salt  almost  to  bitterness, 
and  at  flood  tide  was  quite  impossible  as  drinking  water. 
Somewhat  later  they  resorted  to  the  expedient  of  digging 
a  well,  but  a  shallow  well  under  such  conditions  of  soil  would 
furnish  water  perhaps  even  less  wholesome  than  the  river. 
Besides,  the  surrounding  country  was  full  of  malaria.     On 

8/ 


88  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA. 

these  accounts,  even  if  ever5''thmg  had  been  favorable,  it  would 
have  been  easy  to  have  foretold  coming  sickness  and  distress. 

The  supplies  that  were  brought  over  were  totally  unfit 
and  inadequate.  If  one  thinks  that  the  system  of  graft  is  by 
any  means  a  modern  American  institution,  one  has  only  to 
read  the  history  of  the  early  dealings  of  the  London  Com- 
pany with  avaricious  merchants  of  the  day  to  find  that  it 
Vv'as  practiced  with  consummate  skill  in  the  early  years  of 
the  sevewteenth  century.  It  was  anticipated,  to  be  sure,  that 
these  settlers  would  immediately  find  in  their  new  surround- 
ings foodstuffs  v/ith  which  to  supplement  their  meagre  stock, 
but  for  various  reasons  of  one  sort  and  another,  it  seemed  im- 
possible for  them  to  do  so.  Only  in  the  most  desultory  way 
did  they  add  anything  to  their  slender  resources.  Their  main 
dependence  seemed  to  have  been  put  upon  the  things  that 
would  be  furnished  them  from  England. 

Only  the  smallest  proportion  of  the  first  colonists  were 
fitted  for  a  life  of  service,  either  by  training  or  by  tradition. 
Some  of  them  belonged  to  a  class  known  as  "gentlemen,"  of 
whom  was  not  expected  any  very  real  service.  Yet  in  com- 
mon fairness  it  ought  to  be  said 'that  these  "gentlemen"  re- 
sponded in  a  most  surprising  way  to  the  demands  that  were 
made  upon  them.  It  was  a  thing  commonly  observed  in  the 
War  between  the  States  that  the  petted  sons  of  fond  mothers 
and  doting  fathers,  leaving  homes  of  .luxury  and  ease,  bore 
the  hardships  of  the  camp  and  battle  more  successfully  than 
their  fellow  soldiers  who  were  used  to  the  harder  ways  of 
life.  So  it  seems  it  was  with  the  "gentlemen"  among  the  first 
settlers  of  Virginia.  Smith,  in  his  history,  makes  the  follow- 
ing comment  upon  the  conduct  of  these  "gentlemen"  when 
they  v/ere  set  to  the  task  of  cutting  down  trees  and  making 
clapboards :  "Strange  were  the  pleasures  to  their  conditions, 
yet  lodging,  eating  and  drinking,  working  or  playing,  they 


THE  TRAVAIL  OF  THE  NATION.  89 

were  doing  as  the  president  did  iiimselfe.  All  these  things 
were  carried  on  so  pleasantly  that  within  a  weeke  they  be- 
came masters,  making  it  their  delight  to  heare  the  trees  thun- 
der as  they  fell.  But  the  axes  so  often  blistered  their  tender 
fingers  that  many  times  every  third  blow  had  a  loud  othe  to 
drown  the  echo,  for  remedie  of  which  sinne  the  president  de- 
vised to  have  every  man's  othes  numbered  at  night,  and  for 
every  othe  to  have  a  Canne  of  water  powrd  downe  his  sleeve, 
with  which  every  offender  was  so  washed  himself  that  a  man 
scarce  could  heare  an  othe  in  a  weeke."  And  there  is  added 
this  significant  statement :  "Let  no  man  thinke  that  the  presi- 
dent and  these  gentlemen  were  pressed  to  it  as  hirelings,  for 
what  they  did  after  they  were  but  once  a  little  inured,  seemed 
only  pleasure."  Had  Smith  rested  his  case  vv^ith  these  state- 
ments, the  reputation  of  these  "gentlemen"  as  hard  laborers 
v/ould  have  been  better,  but  he  added:  "Yet  thirty  or  forty 
of  such  voluntary  gentlemen  vwuld  do  more  in  a  day  than 
one  hundred  of  the  rest  that  must  be  pressed  to  it  by  com- 
pulsion, but  twenty  good  workmen  had  been  better  than  chem 
all." 

Others  of  these  settlers  were  from  a  class  of  adventurers, 
of  whom  service  could  be  expected  only  in  exploration  of  the 
country  and  in  encounter  with  the  natives.  Still  others  v/ere 
of  a  vagabond  class  who  had  done  no  work  at  home,  and  were, 
of  course.  Indisposed  to  it  under  new  conditions.  The  residue 
fitted  and  willing  for  service  was  pitifully  small.  It  Vv^ould 
be  difficult  to  find  in  the  annals  of  colonization  a  group  of 
men  so  poorly  adapted  to  the  circumstances  into  the  midst 
of  which  they  had  been  thrust. 

Over  this  incompetent  group  of  people  was  placed  a  most 
incompetent  leadership.  Unfortunately,  the  first  presidents 
of  the  Council,  Wingfield  and  Ratcliffe,  were  both  unfit  and 
inexperienced.     They  had  no  idea  at  all  of  the  requirements 


90  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA. 

of  the  exigency  upon  which  they  had  come.  They  did  not 
know  which  way  to  turn^  nor  what  to  advise,  nor  what  to  per- 
form. Until  the  election  of  Captain  John  Smith,  confusion 
and  anarchy  reigned  among  the  little  company.  His  strong 
hand,  large  experience  and  wise  counsel  brought  about  a  some- 
what changed  condition;  but  his  leadership,  alas!  was  called 
into  requisition  too  late  and  was  lost  all  too  Sioon  to  avoid 
the  disasters  for  which  they  had  already  been  foredoomed. 

The  unreasonable  insistence  of  the  authorities  in  London 
ever  the  search  for  the  northwestern  passage  and  for  mines  of 
gold  and  silver  contributed  not  a  little  to  the  sorrowful  dis- 
asters that  came  upon  the  colony.  If  the  time  and  energy 
spent  in  the  effort  to  accomplish  these  two  impossible  things 
had  been  directe'd  to  the  planting  of  corn,  improvement  of 
their  sanitary  conditions  and  the  betterment  of  their  homes, 
there  can  be  no  doubt  but  that  the  calamities  that  came  upon 
them  might  have  been,  if  not  wholly  avoided,  greatly  miti- 
gated. 

When  Captain  Newport  sailed  away  for  England  in  the 
latter  part  pf  June,  1607,  the  settlers  for  the  first  time  were 
made  to  realize  that  all  communications  between  them  and 
their  old  heme  were  cut  off;  for  just  how  long,  nobody  could 
tell.  They  at  once  entered  upon  an  era  of  sickness  and  suf- 
fering scarcely  paralleled  in  the  history  of  colonization.  Mr. 
George  Percy,  a  brother  of  the  Earl  of  Northumberland,  and 
one  of  the  early  settlers,  in  a  paper  called  "Percy's  Discourse," 
a  manuscript  which  was  preserved  by  Mr.  Hakluyt  and  pub- 
lished by  Mr.  Brown  in  his  "Genesis  of  a  Nation"  for  the  first 
time  in  this  country,  speaking  of  the  conditions  in  1607,  said : 

"Captain  Newport  being  gone  for  England,  leaving  us 
(one  hundred  persons)  verie  bare  and  scantie  of  victualls, 
furthermore  in  warres  and  in  danger  of  savages,  wee  hoped 
after  a  supply  which  Captain  Newport  promised  within  twen- 
^ie  weeks."    And  then  he  gave  the  roll  of  the  dead : 


THE  TRAVAIL  OF  THE  NATION.  gi 

"On  the  6th  of  August,  there  died  John  Asbie,  of  a  bloudie 
f lixe ;  the  9th  day  died  George  Flowre,  of  the  swelling- ;  the 
loth  day  died  William  Bruster,  a  gentleman,  of  a  wound  given 
by  a  savage;  the  14th  day  Jerome  Alikock  (ancient),  died  of  a 
wound ;  the  same  day  Francis  Midwinter  and  Edwin  Morris, 
corporal,  died  suddenly."  From  August  to  September  there 
died  twenty-three,  among  them  Captain  Gosnold.  "He  was 
honorably  buried,  having  all  the  ordinance  of  the  Fort  shot  off 
with  many  volleys  of  small  shot.  Our  men  were  destroyed 
with  cruel  diseases  as  swellings,  flixes,  burning-  fevers,  and 
by  warres,  and  some  departed  suddenh^  but  the  most  part  of 
them  died  of  mere  famine.  There  were  never  Englishmen 
left  in  a  foreigne  countrie  in  such  miserie  as  wee  were  in  this 
new  discovered  Virginia.  Wee  watched  every  three  nights, 
lying  on  the  bare,  cold  ground,  what  weather  soever  came. 
Warded  all  the  next  day  which  brought  our  men  to  bee  the 
most  feeble  wretches.  Our  food  being  a  small  tin  of  barley 
sod  in  water  for  five  men  a  day ;  our  drink  cold  water  taken 
out  of  the  river,  which  at  flood  tide  was  verie  salt,  and  at  low 
tide  was  full  of  slime  and  filth,  which  was  the  destruction  of 
many  of  our  men.  Thus  we  lived  for  a  space  of  five  months 
in  this  miserable  distress,  not  having  five  able  men  to  man 
our  bulwarks  upon  any  occasion.  If  it  had  not  pleased  God 
tp  put  a  terrour  in  the  savages'  hearts,  we  had  all  perished  by 
those  wild  and  cruel  pagans,  being  in  that  weak  estate  as  we 
were.  Our  men  night  and  day  groaning  in  every  corner  of 
the  fort,  most  pittiful  to  heare,  if  there  were  any  conscience  in 
men  it  would  make  their  hearts  bleed  to  hear  the  pittiful  mur- 
murings  and  outcries  of  our  sick  men  without  relief.  Every 
night  and  day  for  the  space  of  six  weeks,  some  departing  out 
of  the  world,  many  times  three  or  four  in  the  night,  and  in  the 
morning  their  bodies  trailed  out  of  their  cabins  like  doggs  to 
be  buried.     In  this  sort  did  I  see  the  mortalitie  of  divers  of 


92  COLONIAL   VIRGINIA. 

our  people.  It  pleased  God  after  a  while  to  send  the  people 
which  were  our  mortal  enemies,  to  relieve  us  with  victualls 
as  bread,  corn,  iish,  and  flesh  in  great  plentie,  which  was  the 
setting  up  of  our  feeble  men,  otherwise  wee  had  all  perished." 

Before  the  winter  had  come,  out  of  the  hundred  men  who 
had  been  left  by  Newport,  only  about  fifty  were  left  alive. 

With  tne  approach  of  winter  the  condition  of  things  seemed 
to  have  been  greatly  improved.  Smith,  by  a  sort  of  general 
consent,  seemed  now  to  have  got  things  pretty  well  in  his 
own  hands.  The  members  of  the  Council  had  nearly  all  died 
during  the  summer,  and  it  was  not  felt  necessary  that  their 
places  should  be  filled.  Smith  had  been  able  to  secure  from 
the  Indians  provisions  which  seemed  to  be  enough  to  put 
them  through  the  coming  winter.  He  had  succeeded  in  mak- 
ing their  homes  a  little  more  comfortable,  and  was  reasonably 
well  prepared  for  the  winter.  His  recent  dealings  with  the 
Indians  not  only  secured  for  them  supplies,  but  seemed  to 
have  established  amicable  relations,  so  that  he  was  entering 
upon  the  winter  not  greatly  disturbed  by  any  apprehensions 
from  that  quarter. 

Newport  returned  with  the  first  supply  early  in  January, 
1608,  bringing  about  one  hundred  and  twenty  settlers,  among 
them  thirty-three  gentlemen  and  tv/enty-one  laborers.  On 
the  night  of  his  arrival  a  fire  broke  out  and  consumed  the 
fort,  storehouses  and  most  of  the  cabins  in  which  the  people 
were  lodged.  Only  three  houses  were  left  standing.  As  if 
fate  was  truly  against  the  settlement,  the  winter  proved  doubly 
hard  and  severe.  But  the  colonists  somehow  managed  to  pull 
through  the  long  winter  months  without  any  serious  loss,  and 
with  the  opening  of  the  spring  they  set  themselves  about  the 
improving  of  their  conditions.  On  Newport's  departure,  Smith 
managed  the  colony  well,  and  the  settlers  spent  the  summer 
in  building  their  houses. 


THE  TRAVAIL  OF  THE  NATION.  93 

In  September,  1608,  Newport  returned  with  the  second 
supply,  containing  some  seventy  settlers,  among-  them  twenty- 
eight  gentlemen,  fourteen  tradesmen,  and  twelve  laborers. 
This  supply,  like  the  first,  was  really  a  very  small  addition  to 
the  comfort  and  welfare  of  the  colony.  The  supplies  that  were 
brought  over  from  England  were  always  inferior  in  quality 
and  insufficient  in  quantity.  It  was  complained,  not  without 
reason,  that  the  new  settlers  brought  over  with  each  supply, 
''nstead  of  being  helpful,  proved  to  be  a  burden ;  and  instead 
of  simplifying  the  situation,  greatly  embarrassed  and  compli- 
cated it.  If  the  settlers  could  have  been  left  at  home  and  the 
supplies,  meagre  as  they  were,  brought  over  alone,  the  situa- 
tion might  have  been  improved.  As  it  was,  conditions  re- 
mained as  grave  as  they  possibly  could  be.  Full  of  foreboding 
and  distrust.  Smith  set  about  the  preparations  for  the  winter 
of  l5c8-i6o9.  Smith  was  further  embarrassed  by  the  unrea- 
sonable and  hard  requirements  that  Newport  had  brought 
back  from  the  London  Company  on  his  second  return.  Al- 
ready the  patrons  of  the  company  v/ere  impatient  for  returns 
and  intolerant  of  excuse  or  delay ;  hence  the  company  asked 
that  there  must  be  some  return  for  the  expenditures  that  had 
been  made.  The  company  especially  exacted  one  of  three 
things,  upon  the  return  of  Neu^port,  at  the  hands  of  the  colo- 
nists :  that  some  gold  and  silver  be  sent  back,  or  that  the  dis- 
covery of  the  northwestern  passage  be  assured,  or  that  at 
least  one  of  the  lost  colony  of  Roanoke  Island  be  found  and 
sent  back  to  England. 

Moreover,  the  company  complained  of  the  management  of 
the  colony;  so  Captain  John  Smith,  in  his  brave  and  brusque 
and  withal  sane  and  level-headed  style,  wrote  to  the  company 
a  letter  known  as  "Smith's  Rude  Answer,"  exhibiting  great 
boldness  and  exceeding  wisdom.  In  reply  to  the  comj^laint 
that  the  colony  was  full  of  factions,  and  that  Smith  was  with- 
holding important  information,  he  made  answer  that  he  was 


94  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA. 

not  responsible  for  these  dissensions,  nor  could  he  prevent 
them ;  and  furthermore,  that  he  had  not  withheld  from  them 
any  knowledge  that  he  possessed,  but  that  he  feared  that  "they 
had  come  to  believe  even  much  more  than  was  true."  He 
furthermore  stated  that  while  he  had  carried  out  their  instruc- 
tions in  relation  to  the  coronation  of  Powhatan,  he  had  not  a 
particle  of  sympathy  in  any  such  proceeding.  He  declared: 
"I  fear  they  will  be  the  confusion  of  us  all  ere  we  hear  from 
you  again."  There  is  proof  that  others  shared  with  Smith  in 
his  foreboding  as  to  the  result  of  these  coronation  circum- 
stances. It  was  evidently  apprehended  that  Powhatan,  al- 
ready thinking  sufficiently  well  of  himself,  would  be  encour- 
aged to  arrogate  to  himself  hereafter  extraordinary  privileges 
and  rights.  As  to  the  finding  of  the  passage  to  the  South 
Seas  and  the  discovery  of  gold  and  silver,  or  the  effort  to  find 
any  of  the  lost  colony  of  Roanoke  Island,  Smith  ventured  to 
suggest  that  time  spent  in  those  directions  would  be  wasted, 
and  had  better  be  put  upon  more  important  concerns.  He 
suggested  that  they  be  somewhat  more  careful  in  their  selec- 
tion of  settlers  that  they  were  sending  from  time  to  time.  He 
wrote :  "When  you  send  againe  I  entreat  you  rather  send  but 
thirty  carpenters,  husbandmen,  gardeners,  fishermen,  black- 
smiths, masons  and  diggers  up  of  trees'  roots,  well  provided, 
than  a  thousand  of  such  as  we  have ;  for  except  we  be  able 
both  to  lodge  them  and  feed  them,  the  most  will  consume  with 
want  of  necessaries  before  they  can  be  made  good  for  any- 
thing." He  closed  this  remarkable  answer  with  these  words: 
"And  I  humbly  intreat  you  hereafter,  let  us  know  what  we 
should  receive,  and  not  stand  to  the  saylers'  courtesie  to  leave 
us  what  they  please,  els  you  may  charge  us  what  you  will,  but 
we  not  you  with  anything.  These  are  the  causes  that  have 
kept  us  in  Virginia  from  laying  such  a  foundation  that  ere 
this  might  have  given  much  better  content  and  satisfaction; 


THE  TRAVAIL  OF  THE  NATION.  95 

ISut  as  yet  you  must  not  looke  for  any  profitable  returns;  so 
I  humbly  rest." 

Newport  remained  in  the  colony  for  several  months,  a  dis- 
turber of  the  peace,  making  dissensions  wherever  he  could, 
and  constantly  adding-  fuel  to  the  flames  of  discontent  and 
strife.  He  allowed  himself  to  be  drawn  into  the  conspiracy 
that  sought  to  depose  Smith  as  president.  Not  until  the  end 
of  the  year  1608  did  he  sail  for  England,  carrying  with  him 
Smith's  rude  answer,  and  a  cargo  of  such  "pitch,  tar,  glass 
and  soap  ashes"  as  the  colonists  had  been  able  to  get  ready. 

There  were  left  behind  him  two  hundred  settlers.  Smith 
secured  by  compulsion  from  Powhatan  and  Opechancanough 
corn  and  other  supplies  for  their  sustenance  during  the  com- 
ing winter,  and  although  the  settlers  did  not  take  proper  care 
of  this  valuable  store,  their  sufferings  were  not  very  severe. 
It  was,  however,  found  necessary  that  some  of  the  settlers 
should  be  sent  to  live  among  the  Indians,  while  others  were 
sent  to  catch  fish  in  the  James  River,  providing  in  this  way 
a  supply  of  sturgeon  meat.  During  the  winter  Smith  sought 
to  carry  out  the  instructions  that  had  come  from  the  com- 
pany in  London,  and  sent  a  party  to  search  for  the  lost  colony 
of  Roanoke. 

The  spring  of  1609  found  most  of  the  settlers  alive  and  in 
good  health,  and  the  men  went  eagerly  to  work  planting  crops, 
strengthening  the  palisades  and  improving  their  houses. 

In  the  meantime  the  London  Company  had  secured  a  new 
charter  and  had  appointed  Lord  Delaware  as  Governor  and 
Captain-General  of  Virginia.  Nine  vessels  were  fitted  out 
and  dispatched  to  Virginia  with  five  hundred  settlers.  Seven 
of  these  vessels,  after  having  experienced  severe  storms,  ar- 
rived at  Jamestown  in  August,  1609,  bringing  the  third  supply. 
Among  the  influential  men  of  this  new  instalment  were  two 
of  Smith's  old  enemies,  Archer  and  Ratcliffe.     Ratcliffe  had 


96  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA. 

been  deposed  from  the  presidency  of  the  colony  for  ineffi- 
ciency, and  had  been  sent  back  home.  In  some  way  he 
succeeded  in  having-  himself  restored  to  favor,  and  came  back 
evidently  agreeing  with  Archer  to  make  it  as  disagreeable  fof 
Smith  as  possible.  Ratcliffe  came  to  an  untimely  end  before 
he  had  been  able  to  do  much  mischief.  In  undertaking  to 
deal  with  the  Indians  as  he  had  seen  Smith  do,  he  fell  into  an 
am.buscade,  was  captured  and  cruelly  tortured  to  death. 

It  seem.ed  that  no  one  in  the  new  supply  brought  any  com- 
mission to  dislodge  and  succeed  Smith.  As  delegates  of  Lord 
Delaw^are  there  vv^ere  only  three  gentlemen,  Sir  George  Somers, 
Sir  Thomas  Gates  and  Captain  Newport,  wdio  were  equipped 
with  this  official  prerequisite.  These  had,  for  some  reason, 
gotten  themselves  all  together  in  the  same  boat,  which  boat 
was  separated  from  the  fleet  and  eventually  wrecked  upon 
the  shores  of  the  Bermudas.  Smith's  term  of  office  had  not 
yet  expired,  and  though  no  one  had  a  commission  to  displace 
him.  Archer,  RatcUffe  and  their  followers  sought  to  usurp 
the  government.  Smith,  however,  proved  himself  equal  to 
the  emergency,  arrested  the  malcontents,  and  sent  Captain 
West,  a  brother  of  Lord  Delaware,  with  one  hundred  and 
twenty  others,  to  make  a  settlement  where  Richmond  now 
stands.  As  has  already  been  stated.  Smith,  on  retunifng 
from  this  plantation  to  Jamestown,  was  severely  wounded, 
and  was  forced  to  return  to  England  for  medical  treatment. 

It  was  a  bad  day  for  the  settlement  when  Smith  left  it. 
It  would  be  too  much  to  say  that  the  disasters  which  came 
upon  them  Avould  have  been  avoided  had  he  remained  at 
Jamestown ;  it  is  not  too  much  to  say,  however,  that  many 
of  these  disasters  would  have  been  avoided  and  the  colonists 
would  have  been  saved,  at  least,  from  some  of  the  awful 
sufferings  that  followed.  At  any  rate,  there  would  have 
been  among  them  a  brave  and  untiring  soldier,  exemplifying 


THE  TRAVAIL  OF  THE  NATION.  97 

fortitude  and   exhibiting-  utter  unselfishness   in  his   care  for 
those  under  his  chars^e. 

If  the  sufferings  of  the  colonists  had  already  been  great, 
they  were  not  to  be  compared  with  the  calamities  through 
which  they  were  to  go  in  the  winter  of  1609-1610.  There  is 
not  a  more  pitiful  annal  than  the  story  of  that  long,  hard 
winter.  Their  supplies  were  soon  exhausted ;  the  Indians 
had  been  offended  and  alienated,  and  were  now  using  every 
opportunity  to  harass  and  destroy  the  settlers.  It  soon  be- 
came impossible  for  these  wretched  colonists,  shut  in  at 
Jamestown,  to  secure  food  to  save  themselves  from  starva- 
tion. The  shallow  well  from  which  the}'-  got  their  drinking- 
water  proved  to  be  full  of  deadly  poison.  They  fell  sick  in 
great  numbers,  and  those  who  were  not  sick  were  so  starved 
8s  to  be  unable  to  care  for  the  sick  or  to  procure  food.  The 
horses,  cattle  and  hogs  that  had  been  brought  over  for  breed- 
ing purposes  were  all  slaughtered  and  eaten.  Then  they  ate 
dogs,  rats  and  adders;  every  sort  of  living  thing  upon  which 
they  could  lay  their  hands  they  ate.  First  an  Indian  who  had 
been  killed  was  eaten ;  a  poor  wn-etch  killed  his  own  wife,  eat- 
ing- a  part  of  her  and  salting"  down  the  remainder  for  future 
use.  For  this  crime  he  was  burned  at  the  stake.  ]\Ien  in  their 
suffering  and  desolation  flung  away  their  Bibles  and  cried 
cut  in  rebellion  against  God.  They  went  into  the  winter  five 
hundred  in  number;  tliey  came  out  of  the  winter  with  only 
sixty-five  stricken  and  wasted  wretches.  Such  was  the  trag- 
edy of  the  "Starving  Time." 

Rescue  came  in  a  way  that  they  had  least  anticipated. 
In  the  instalment  of  settlers  that  had  come  over  in  August, 
1609,  two  of  the  vessels  had  become  separated  from  the 
fleet — one  was  lost  and  the  other  was  wrecked  upon  the 
shores  of  the  Bermuda  Islands.  Strangely  enougli,  in  this 
\essel,  which  was  called  the  Sea  Venture,   Newport,   Gates 


98  COLONIAL   VIRGINIA. 

and  Somers,  -svith  their  families,  sailed  tog^ether.  It  is  sup- 
posed that  these  thrte  kept  together  because  each  was  jeal- 
ous of  the  other,  it  having  been  apprehended  that  the  first  to 
arrive  would  have  command  of  the  colony.  The  commanders 
pi  this  wrecked  party  set  about  immediately  to  build  vessels 
in  which  the  voyage  to  Jamestown  might  be  continued  and 
completed.  Two  small  boats  were  constructed,  named  the 
Patience  and  Deliverance.  After  loading  them  with  such 
supplies  as  could  be  found  upon  the  island,  such  as  turtles, 
salt  fish  and  salt  fowl,  the  wrecked  and  delayed  party  set  sail 
for  Jamestown,  arriving-  there  in  the  spring  of  1610.  The 
church  bell  was  rung-,  and  the  wasted  and  starved  colonists 
v\-ere  summoned  to  the  dilapidated  church  to  g"reet  these  men 
Vvhn  had  brought  rescue,  and  to  return  thanks  for  their  de- 
liverance. It  was  soon  discovered,  however,  that  the  sup- 
plies which  they  brought  would  scarcely  last  longer  than  two 
or  three  weeks.  After  a  conference  it  was  decided  that  the 
whole  company  should  return  to  England,  going"  by  way  of 
Newfoundland,  where  they  hoped  to  fall  in  with  English 
fisherm.en  and  thereby  be  able  to  replenish  their  store  of  pro- 
Visions.  Accordingly,  in  four  small  vessels  the  entire  party 
[embarked,  leaving  the  town  standing,  as  it  was  decided  that 
it  had  better  not  be  burned.  When  they  had  about  reached 
the  mouth  of  the  James  River  they  met  ships  coming  from 
England  under  the  command  of  Lord  Delaware.  He  issued 
command  that  the  entire  party  should  return  at  once  to  James- 
town. Many  of  the  settlers  who  had  passed  through  that 
dreadful  winter  obe3'ed  most  reluctantly.  However,  all  hands 
returned  to  the  island  and  landed  on  the  next  day  at  James- 
town. 

On  reaching  the  shore,  Lord  Delaware  fell  upon  his  knees 
and  gave  thanks  for  the  wonderful  deliverance  that  had  been 
brought  to  the  settlers,  and  invoked  the  Divine  blessing*  and 
guidance  lor  the  years  that  were  to  come.  ^-  ....  ■ 


THE  TRAVAIL  OF  THE  NATION.  99 

In  many  ways  the  coming-  of  Lord  Delaware  proved  to  be 
a  real  blessing  to  the  Virginia  colonists,  and  was  really  the 
turning  point  in  the  career  of  the  settlers.  He  brought  over 
many  things  that  would  contribute  to  the  growth  and  well- 
being  of  the  colony.  His  administration,  though  attended 
with  considerable  pomp  and  display  that  seemed  to  be  utterly 
incongruous  with  his  immediate  surroundings,  was  on  the 
whole  satisfactory  and  prosperous.  But  he  himself  became 
discontented  in  the  midst  of  his  new.  surroundings.  He  de- 
termined to  govern  the  colony  by  deputy  and  to  return  to 
England.  He  gave  as  his  excuse  that  he  was  not  able  physi- 
cally to  stand  the  climate  in  Virginia.  With  all  the  ailments 
that  he  represented  himself  to  have  had,  had  he  possessed 
the  lives  of  a  dozen  men  instead  lof  one,  it  would  have  been 
marvelous  for  him  to  have  escaped  a  grave  with  the  others  at 
Jamestown.  However,  he  sailed  away  for  England  in  Alarch, 
161 1,  leaving  as  his  representative  George  Percy,  who  had 
been  in  charge  of  the  colony  during  the  terrible  winter  of  1610. 

It  Wiould  seem,  with  the  experience  that  the  colonists  had 
gathered  and  the  new  life  that  had  come  in  with  the  addi- 
tional supplies,  that  their  sufferings  \vould  now  be  at  an  end, 
and  that  they  might  face  the  future  more  confident  of  health 
and  prosperity  than  ever  before.  If  Lord  Delaware  might 
have  continued  his  wise  and  kindly  rule,  this  might  have  been 
true.  To  be  sure,  there  never  came  to  them  again  such  famine 
and  pestilence  through  which  they  had  already  passed,  but 
hardship  and  trial  awaited  them  for  some  3^ears  yet  to  come. 
Soon  after  Lord  Delaware's  departure  there  came  over  as 
High  Marshal  of  Virginia,  Sir  Thomas  Dale,  who  was  the 
especial  friend  of  Prince  Henry,  and  who  was  appointed  upon 
the  prince's  earnest  commendation.  He  had  been  a  soldier 
and  was  a  man  .of  iron  will,  and  of  heart  seemingly  as  hard 
as  his  will.     He  set  about  at  once  to  rule  the  colony  with  the 


100  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA. 

most  strict  and  heartless  absolutism.  He  tolerated  interfer- 
ence from  no  quarter  whatever;  he  was  the  absolute  and  un- 
disputed autocrat  of  the  colony.  It  v/as  worth  a  man's  life 
ip  raise  any  question  of  his  right  or  authority.  jMatters  of 
life  and  death  were  altogether  in  his  hands,  and  from  him 
there  was  yhj  appeal.  And  yet  his  administration  was  in 
many  things  exceeding  wise,  anci  in  the  long  run  was  no 
doubt  wholesome  and  beneficent  for  the  settlers.  Out  of  the 
chaos  and  confusion  into  which  the  colpny  had  fallen,  he 
brought  order  and  system.  Every  man  v/as  put  instantly 
to  work.  The  old  socialistic  idea  of  working  for  a  common 
fund  was  abandoned.  He  divided  the  land  into  small  plots 
and  distributed  them  among  the  settlers,  requiring  that  every 
man  diligently  cultivate  the  plot  allotted  to  him.  This  was 
a  vast'  improvement,  although  the  exactions  required  of  the 
settlers  were  so  large  as  to  leave  little  for  individual  profit 
or  gain.  Dale's  whole  idea  was  to  make  money  f!or  the  com- 
pany, and  if  he  used  the  colony  justly  and  wisely,  it  was  in 
order  that  he  might  get  the  better  results  and  service  out  of 
them.  As  time  v/ore  on,  instead  of  growing  softer  and  kinder 
in  his  rule,  he  seemed  to  become  harder  and  more  tyrannical. 
The  penalty  of  death  w^as  inflicted  with  undignified  flippancy 
and  unprecedented  frequency.  This  sort  of  administration 
could  not  be  maintained  without  exciting  great  dissatisfac- 
tion, and  the  discontent  of  the  settlers  was  widespread ;  and 
j'-et,  for  fear  of  punishment,  it  was  concealed  as  much  as  pos- 
sible. In  making  up  an  estimate  of  Dale's  administration, 
there  is  no  little  confusion  on  account  of  the  mixed  testimony 
one  finds.  It  will  be  discovered  that  the  friends  of  the  com- 
pany, even  the  best  of  them,  give  hearty  endorsement  to  his 
administration  and  speak  of  him  as  being  the  saviour  of  the 
colony.  They  testified  not  only  to  the  wisdom  of  his  rule, 
but,  strangely  enough,  to  the  piety  of  it.     On  the  other  hand, 


THE  TRAVAIL  OF  THE  NATION.  loi 

the  testimony  of  those  who  lived  in  the  colony  under  his  ad- 
ministration is  that  he  was  a  hard-hearted  taskmaster,  and 
that  his  administration  was  marked  with  a  cruelty  as  unne- 
cessary as  it  was  wicked.  However  all  this  may  be,  it  is  very 
plain  that  such  administration  as  his  was  a  part  of  that  dis- 
ciplinary training-  throug-h  which  the  new  nation  had  to  pass. 
In  1616  Sir  Thomas  Dale  returned  to  England,  leaving  Mr. 
Georg-e  Yeardley  as  deputy  governor.  Yeardley  was  a  wise 
and  an  energetic  man,  and  might  be  called  the  first  political 
economist  of  America.  He  first  came  to  Virginia  witi 
Somers  in  1610,  and  was  with  the  party  shipwrecked  on  the 
Bermuda  Islands.  During-  the  time  of  Dale's  administration 
he  was  a  member  of  the  colony,  and  had  control  of  the  plan- 
tation of  "Flower  de  Hundred."  Here  he  introduced  the  first 
windmill  in  America,  and  brought  over  the  first  real  herd  of 
blooded  cattle,  having  imported  a  herd  of  twenty-four  cows. 
He  planted  much  Indian  corn  and  wheat,  and  advocated  the 
fertilization  of  the  soil  with  marl.  He  was  quick  tp  observe 
the  success  that  had  attended  John  Rolf's  experiments  in  the 
raising  of  tobacco,  and  lost  no  time  in  encouraging  its  gen- 
eral cultivation.  But  he  remained  deputy  Governor  only  for 
a  year,  and  was  succeeded  by  Argall. 

Argall  was  from  the  beginning  a  thief  and  a  grafter  of 
the  deepest  dye.  He  robbed  the  colony  of  everything  that 
could  be  moved.  He  had  for  his  partner  at  hom.e  a  man  by 
the  name  of  Rich,  who  secured  contracts  from  the  London 
Company  for  furnishing  supplies  to  the  colonists.  So  while 
Argall  robbed  the  colonists  abroad.  Rich  took  care  of  the 
friends  at  home.  The  settlers  were  unable,  under  such  nefa- 
rious rule,  to  lay  by  anything  for  themselves.  They  simply 
toiled  as  slaves  whipped  to  their  labors,  and  the  results  of 
their  toil  went  into  the  pockets  of  their  shameless  Governor; 
so,  however  they  might  labor,  their  poverty,  hunger  and  dis- 


102  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA. 

tress  still  continued.  The  conduct  of  Argall  became  so  open 
and  outrageous  that,  in  1618,  he  was  finally  recalled  and  Sir 
George  Yeardley  made  Governor  of  Virginia. 

Under  the  change  of  administration,  both  in  the  London 
Company  and  in  the  colony,  Virginia  was  now  to  enter  upon 
a  new  career.  While  all  the  problems  of  the  colony  were 
not  solved,  nor  all  the  difficulties  passed,  the  future  was  as- 
sured. The  long  night  of  the  "Starvation  Times"  was  passed, 
and  the  dawn  of  a  new  day  had  come.  The  travail  of  the 
nation  was  over,  and  a  new  people  was  to  take  its  place 
among  the  nations  of  the  world. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 
THE  BEGINNINGS  OF  EDUCATION  IN  VIRGINIA. 

It  is  pretty  well  known  that  Virginia  was  the  first  per- 
manent English  settlement  in  America ;  that  she  was  the 
first  colony  to  have  slaves,  and  also  was  the  first  Ciolony  to 
have  a  legislative  assembly.  But  it  is  not  as  well  known  as 
it  might  be  that  it  was  also  the  first  colony  to  plan  for  an  in- 
stitution of  learning.  The  unfortunate  utterance  of  Governor 
Berkeley  when  he  said,  'T  thank  God  there  are  no  free  schools 
nor  printing,  and  I  hope  we  shall  not  have  them  these  hun- 
dred years,"  has  been  quoted  as  representing  the  spirit  and 
method  of  the  first  colony  in  Virginia  with  reference  to  edu- 
cation, when  the  truth  of  the  matter  is  that  one  of  the  very 
first  enterprises  toward  which  the  best  thought  of  those  in- 
terested in  the  life  of  the  colony  was  directed  was  concern- 
ing the  education  especially  of  the  children  of  the  aborigines. 

There  was  established  in  the  city  of  Henrico,  located  at 
a  point  on  James  River  now  known  as  Dutch  Gap,  a  school 
that  was  intended  to  be  the  first  university  in  America.  This 
little  town  was  first  named  in  1611.  It  was  planned  by  Sir 
Thomas  Dale,  and  was  intended  by  him  to  be  the  future  capi- 
tal of  Virginia.  It  contained  as  many  as  three  streets  of 
well-framed  houses,  a  church,  and  was  protected  by  five  block- 
houses, with  a  ditch  and  paling  over  a  mile  in  length.  From 
the  very  form  of  Henrico  the  idea  of  a  school  was  clearly 
prominent.  In  the  grant  which  was  made  for  the  establish- 
ment of  a  town,  reference  was  made  to  a  college  immediately 

103 


I04  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA. 

to  be  built  and  also  for  a  university  in  the  course  of  time. 
The  school  was  built,  to  be  sure,  with  the  idea  of  educating 
the  Indians  alone,  and  it  was  planned  to  have  a  free  school  in 
Charles  City  county  as  a  feeder  for  the  college. 

The  history  of  this  school  is  meagre,  but  the  records  of 
the  London  Company  from  April  28,  1619,  to  June  2j,  1624, 
are  well  preserved,  and  mention  is  made  here  and  there  of  the 
Henrico  colony.  There  are  also  some  letters  of  the  period 
that  allude  to  the  beginnings  of  the  college.  In  1618  Gov- 
ernor Yeardley  was  instructed  to  choose  a  suitable  site  at  Hen- 
rico and  to  prepare  for  the  building  of  the  college. 

In  the  records  of  the  company  in  May,  1609,  there  is  a 
statement  that  King  James,  in  1618,  had  authorized  the  bishops 
and  clergy  of  England  to  make  a  collection  for  the  college  and 
university  in  the  Colou}^  of  Virginia,  and  the  report  was  made 
to  the  company  that  £1,500  had  been  collected  for  this  pur- 
pose; and  it  was  further  resolved  that  certain  lands  in  Hen- 
rico should  be  laid  out  for  a  college,  on  which  fifty  persons 
should  be  situated,  and  that  one-half  of  the  revenues  of  these 
lands  should  go  toward  the  maintenance  of  the  institution  of 
learning  A  month  later  a  board  of  trustees  was  nominated 
bv  the  company,  to  be  imder  the  control  of  the  Privy  Council 
of  England.  This  board  of  trustees  v/as  to  provide  for  in- 
structors, and  to  direct  other  matters  relating  to  the  institu- 
tion. 

While  this  was  going  on  in  England,  Sir  George  Yeardley 
had  arrived  at  Jamestown,  and  he  immediately  called  a  grand 
assembly  of  twenty-two  burgesses  from  the  eleven  plantations 
then  constituting  the  colony.  Among  the  things  considered 
by  this  first  House  of  Burgesses  were  the  resolutions  with  re- 
ference to  the  college.  One  of  these  resolutions  provided  that 
each  plantation  should  maintain  a  certain  number  of  native 
children,  who  should  be  prepared  by  instruction  so  that  they 


BEGINNINGS  OF  EDUCATION  IN  VIRGINIA.   105 

would  be  ready  to  enter  college.  Another  resolution  requested 
the  company  to  'send  to  the  colony  some  good  carpenters  to 
proceed  with  the  building  lof  the  institution. 

These  laws  were  passed  before  the  Pilgi'im  Fathers  had 
even  landed  at  Plymouth,  and  were  without  doubt  approved 
by  the  company,  for  we  are  told  that  the  company  requested 
that  the  proprietors  of  Smith's  Hundred  in  Virginia,  on  the 
James  River,  educate  a  certain  number  of  young  Indians,  and 
promised  the  sum  of  £550  should  this  be  done.  The  pro- 
prietors asked  to  be  relieved  from  this  obligation,  offering 
£100  to  the  company,  but  their  request  was  not  granted. 

Later  in  the  same  year,  at  the  suggestion  of  Sir  Edwin 
Sand3's,  it  was  proposed  that  three  hundred  tenants  be  placed 
upon  the  public  lands  in  Virginia — one  hundred  on  the  Gov- 
'ernor's  land,  one  hundred  on  the  company's  land,  and  one  hun- 
dred on  the  college  land.  Sir  Edwin  calculated  that  this  would 
yield  a  revenue  of  £3,000  per  year,  and  thus  the  college  lands 
would  yield  £1,000.  The  amount  .of  land  set  aside  for  the 
whole  educational  plan  vs^as  ten  thousand  acres,  of  which  one 
thousand  acres  should  be  used  for  the  college,  the  other 
nme  thousand  acres  to  be  developed  and  the  increase  to  be 
kept  for  a  proposed  large  university.  Shortly  after  this,  INIay 
II,  1620,  George  Thorpe  was  sent  out  as  a  deputy  to  govern 
the  college  lands.  Fie  was,  therefore,  the  first  superintendent 
of  the  school  property-  of  Virginia.  The  company  had  in  miind 
that  Thorpe  should  get  under  wa}^  the  buildings  to  receive 
the  rector  and  instructors  to  be  sent  later.  He  was  specially 
instructed  to  have  a  house  built  for  a  clergyman  who  should 
reside  at  Henrico. 

Under  the  direction  of  Thorpe  ten  tenants  were  placed 
upon  the  lands  of  the  college,  and  soon  after  the  number  was 
'.ncreased.  The  Rev.  Mr.  Copland,  in  England,  taking  a  deep 
interest  in  educational  matters,  proposed  that  a  free  school 


io6  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA. 

be  established  at  Charles  City,  now  City  Point.  One  thou- 
sand acres  of  land  Avere  appropriated  for  the  purpose,  and  five 
persons  were  sent  to  work  upon  it.  This  school  was  to  be 
preparatory  to  the  college  at  Henrico.  An  usher  was  ap- 
pointed, but  he  declined  the  honor  unless  he  could  have  the 
title  of  master.  A  number  lof  donations  were  made  in  Eng- 
land, such  as  a  communion  table  and  set,  £550  in  gold,  and 
a  library  valued  at  one  hundred  marks.  Nicholas  Farrar,  in 
his  will,  left  £300  to  the  college,  to  be  paid  as  soon  as  ten 
young  savages  had  been  placed  in  the  institution ;  "in  the 
meantime  four  and  twenty  pounds  yearly  to  bee  distributed 
unto  three  discreet  and  godly  young  men  in  the  colony  to 
bring  up  three  wilde  young  infidels  in  some  good  course  in 
life."     Later  on  George  Ruggles  gave  a  legacy  of   £100. 

Finally,  in  July,  1622,  the  company  elected  the  Rev.  Pat- 
rick Copland  as  rector  of  the  institution.  This  was  done  just 
a  few  days  before  the  news  of  the  massacre  of  March  22,  1622, 
reached  England.  On  that  day  the  Indians,  headed  by  their 
old  chief,  Opechancanough,  rose  up  and  destroyed  347  men, 
women  and  children  out  of  a  total  population  numbering 
about  1,258  persons.  But  for  the  news  which  was  brought 
to  the  settlers  by  a  converted  Indian  who  had  been  chris- 
tened under  the  name  of  "Perry,"  Jamestown  and  other  of 
the  lower  settlements  would  have  been  destroyed.  As  it 
was,  the  town  of  Henrico  was  totally  annihilated,  and 
George  Thorpe,  the  superintendent  of  college  lands,  was 
killed,  and  seventeen  of  the  college  tenants  perished  with  him. 
Thus  came  to  an  end  the  proposed  college. 

The  Colonial  Dames  of  America  (Chapter  I.),  deploring 
the  neglect  of  these  facts  in  Virginia's  history,  have  offered 
to  the  Johns  Hopkins  University  a  medallion,  to  be  conferred 
annually  upon  some  graduate  or  student  of  the  university 
for  the  best  essay  on  American  history.     The  medallion  cv)n- 


BEGINNINGS  OF  EDUCATION  IN  VIRGINIA.  107 

tains  this  inscription :  "The  University  pf  Henrico,  destroyed 
in  the  massacre  March  22,  1622."  In  the  centre  of  the  medal- 
lion is  George  Thorpe,  and  behind  him  stand  his  tenants,  while 
in  front  are  the  Indians  rushing  upon  them. 

Though  the  massacre  was  a  terrible  blow,  the  company 
did  not  at  once  abandon  the  idea  of  a  college.  A  new  super- 
intendent of  the  lands  was  appointed,  but  to  no  avail,  as  the 
settlers  absolutely  refused  to  rebuild  the  city  of  Henrico.  The 
company,  however,  constantly  bore  in  mind  the  need  of  edu- 
cational facilities  in  Virginia,  and  instructions  were  given  to 
Sir  Francis  Wyatt  to  see  that  the  children  were  taught  in 
every  town  and  borpugh  so  that  they  might  be  prepared  for 
college.  It  is  also  on  record  that  carpenters  came  in  the  good 
ship  Abigail  to  build  the  East  India  School  at  Charles  City. 

The  colony  was  divided  into  parishes,  and  there  is  every 
reason  to  believe  that  instruction  was  carried  on  in  every  one 
of  these  parishes. 

In  1635  it  is  recorded  that  Benjamin  Symms  donated  a 
■freehold  of  two  hundred  acres  on  the  Pocosin  River,  in  Eliza- 
beth City  county,  for  the  support  of  a  free  school  for  the  edu- 
cation of  children  in  the  parishes  of  Elizabeth  and  Kicquotan. 

A  few  years  later,  for  the  same  purpose,  Thomas  Eaton 
left  an  estate  in  the  same  county.  The  high  school  at  Hamp- 
ton, Va,,  is  to-day  called  the  Symms-Eatpn  School,  in  honor 
of  these  founders  of  the  first  free  school  in  Virginia. 

At  the  time  of  Bacon's  Rebellion  it  is  recorded  that  one 
Henry  Peasley  left  six  hundred  acres  in  Gloucester  county 
for  the  maintenance  of  a  school  for  the  children  oi  Abingdon 
and  Ware  parishes.  This  school  was  established  and  became 
kno\vn  as  the  "Peasley  School,"  and  continued  its  work  for 
eighty  years  without   interruption. 

In  1660  the  House  of  Burgesses  took  steps  towards  the 
establishment  of  a  college,  but  the  matter  was  delayed  until 


io8  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA. 

finally,  thrpugh  the  efforts  of  the  clergy-  and  burgesses,  under 
the  direction  of  Commissary  James  Blair,  the  College  of  Wil- 
liam and  Mary  was  established  in  1693.  This  charter  was 
grant&d  by  the  sovereigns  of  England,  William  and  Alary, 
and  the  college  was  named  after  them.  It  is  the  oldest  insti- 
tution of  learning  south  of  the  Potomac  River,  and  next  to 
Harvard  in  ase  in  the  United  States. 

The  revenues  provided  for  the  college  were  one  penny  per 
pound  on  the  tobacco  exported  from  Virginia  to  any  English 
plantation  in  America.  The  King  granted,  out  of  quit  rents, 
£2,000  toward  the  building^  and  one  cent  per  pound  on  all 
tobacco  exported  from  Virginia, 

The  story  goes  that  the  charter  would  never  have  been 
secured  but  for  the  King,  as  the  board  of  trade  and  the  Eng- 
1  sh  officials  were  against  it.  Mr.  Blair  is  said  to  have  gone 
to  the  English  Attorney-General,  Seymour,  with  a  command 
frpm  the  King  that  a  charter  be  prepared,  but  the  Attorney- 
General  asked  Mr.  Blair  "what  was  the  use  of  such  an  institu- 
tion?" The  commissary  replied  "that  they  needed  it  for  the 
preparation  of  young  men  entering  the  m.inistr}^,"  and  begged 
Mr.  Seymour  to  "remember  that  there  were  souls  in  Virginia 
to  be  saved  as  well  as  in  England."  "Souls !"  said  Attorney 
Seymour,  "damn  your  souls — you  make  tobacco."  This  in- 
dicated clearly  the  spirit  of  many  of  the  people  in  England. 
By  manj^  Virginia  was  regarded  only  as  a  possession  of  Eng- 
land, to  be  used  to  enrich  its  merchant  class.  This  spirit, 
manifested  from  the  beginning,  was  the  spirit. shown  by  Sir 
William  Berkeley,  and  it  produced  Bacon's  Rebellion,  and  it 
was  the  same  spirit  that  alienated  all  the  colonies  from  the 
mother  country. 

From  the  time  of  its  establishment  until  the  Revolution- 
ary War,  William  and  Mary  College  was  the  richest  institu- 
tion in  America,  and  had  a  better  course  of  instruction  than 


BEGINNINGS  OF  EDUCATION  IN  VIRGINIA.   109' 

Harvard,  Yale,  Nassau  Hall  (now  Princeton  University), 
King's  College  (now  Columbia  University),  University  of 
Pennsylvania,  Brown  or  Dartmouth, 

In  connection  with  these  statements  about  William  and 
jMary,  and  in  most  grateful  appreciation  of  his  charming 
contribution  to  Virginia's  history,  we  venture  to  quote  in  full 
from  Mr.  Fiske's  "Old  Virginia  and  Her  Neighbors": 

"It  was  the  first  college  in  America  to  introduce  teaching 
by  lectures  and  the  elective  system  of  study.  It  was  the  first 
to  unite  a  group  of  faculties  into  a  university.  It  was  the 
second  in  the  English  v/orld  to  have  a  chair  of  municipal 
law,  George  Wythe  coming  to  such  a  professorship  a  few 
vears  after  Sir  William  Blackstone.  It  was  the  first  in  Amer- 
ica to  establish  a  chair  of  history  and  piolitical  science,  and 
it  was  one  of  the  first  to  pursue  a  thoroughly  secular  and 
unsectarian  policy,  though,  until  lately,  its- number  of  students 
ai.  any  one  time  had  never  reached  one  hundred  and  fifty 
It  has  given  to  our  country  fifteen  Senators  and  seventy  Rep- 
resentatives in  Congress ;  seventeen  Governors  of  States,  and 
thirty-seven  judges;  three  Presidents  of  the  United  States — 
Jefferson,  Monroe  and  Tyler — and  the  great  Chief  Justice 
Marshall." 

To  these  distinguished  graduates  there  m.ight  be  added 
many  other  names.  Indeed,  the  college  educated  most  of  the 
men  wh.o  led  Virginia  in  the  times  preceding  and  immediately 
following  the  Revolutionary  War.  Quite  a  few  'of  the  sons  of 
richer  Virginians  went  to  Oxford  and  Cambridge,  the  alma 
maters  of  their  fathers.  William  Byrd,  2d,  was,  for  example, 
an  Oxford  man,  and  so  were  Richard  PI.  Lee  and  Thomas  Nel- 
son. Such,  however,  was  the  excellence  of  the  instruction  and 
training  given  at  William  and  Mary  that  it  was  soon  dis- 
covered it  Vv^as  not  at  all  necessary  to  send  the  sons  of  the 
<X)lony  across  the  water  in  order  that  they  might  receive  ade- 


no  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA. 

quate  educational  girding  and  equipment.  It  is  worthy  of 
note  that  the  Phi  Beta  Kappa  Society  was  organized  at  this 
college  in  1776, 

It  is  interesting  to  remember  that  at  William  and  Mary 
provision  was  made  for  the  education  of  the  Indians.  The 
founders  were  trying  to  carry  out  the  policy  which  the  Lon- 
don Company  had  tried  seventy-five  years  before.  It  is  re- 
lated that  the  Queen  of  Pamunkey  sent  her  boy  to  the  college 
with  a  valet,  and  that  there  were  two  other  sons  of  Indian 
chiefs.  It  is  not  a  matter  of  record  as  to  how  long  these  rep- 
resentatives of  the  aborigines  of  Virginia  remained  within 
the  classic  walls  of  William  and  Alary.  It  is  easy  to  imagine, 
however,  that  it  was  not  long  before  they  began  to  sigh  for 
the  chase  and  to  long  for  the  freedom  of  the  wild  life  to  which 
they  had  been  used,  and  that  they  found  it  impossible  to  hold 
themselves  long  in  subjection  to  the  limitations  and  restric- 
tions incident  to  academic  life. 

It  is  very  amusing  to  observe  the  very  serious  and  praise- 
worthy efforts  of  these  Englishmen  on  behalf  of  the  educa- 
tion of  the  Indians.  It  seemed  to  be  imagined  on  their  part 
a  facile  matter  to  lasso  these  Indian  youths  and  make  the 
school  and  home  life  pleasant  for  them  with  the  mere  fur- 
nishing of  academic  advantages.  It  proved,  however,  to  be  a 
case  not  only  where  it  was  difficult  to  catch  the  hare,  but 
Larder  still  to  skin  him  after  he  was  caught. 

The  first  commencement  of  the  college,  which  was  held 
in  1700,  was  an  incident  of  widespread  interest  throughout  the 
colonies  of  the  country.  It  is  said  that  not  only  a  large  num- 
ber of  the  Virginians  themselves  were  present,  but  the  Indians 
also  came  in  gala  array,  and  that  representatives  came  even 
from  Maryland,  Pennsylvania  and  New  York, 

With  the  close  of  the  Revolution  the  parish  schools  were 
abolished  when  church  and  state  were  separated,  but  in  a 


BEGINNINGS  OF  EDUCATION  IN  VIRGINIA,   iil 

short  while  there  came  into  existence  what  was  known  as  the 
"charity"  school.  Sales  of  property  belonging  to  the  parishes 
were  in  some  instances  used  for  the  establishment  of  these 
schools,  which  were  used  for  the  educating  of  poor  children. 
In  addition,  citizens  employed  teachers  and  established  private 
and  select  schoole.  In  1796  a  law  was  passed  authorizing  the 
appointment  of  school  commissioners,  to  be  known  as  the 
"aldermen  of  the  couniy."  Their  duty  was  to  divide  the 
county  up  into  districts  in  which  schools  should  be  estab- 
lished. Teachers  were  To  be  paid  at  public  cost,  and  all  chil- 
dren were  to  have  three  schooling  years  free.  Here  was  the 
origin  of  the  public  school  system  of  Virginia  as  a  district 
matter.  To  each  locality  was  assigned  the  right  and  duty  of 
maintaining  schools,  and  to  a  certain  extent  this  is  true  even 
to  this  day.  The  provisions  of  the  act  of  1796  became  opera- 
tive in  a  number  of  the  counties. 

In  1809  was  created  a  literary  fund  which  provided  that 
all  escheats,  confiscations  and  forfeitures  of  the  Common- 
wealth should  become  the  property  of  this  fund,  and  that  all 
military  fines  should  also  be  used  by  this  same  fund  for  the 
education  of  the  poor.  This  fund  has  grown  greatly  in  size, 
and  is  to-day  a  source  c-f  great  revenue  to  the  public  school 
system,  amounting  to  more  than  one  million  and  a  half  dol- 
lars. 

In  the  various  counties  of  Virginia  were  appointed  school 
commissioners,  and  from  1810  to  the  time  of  the  Civil  War, 
all  the  poor  children  of  Virginia  had  the  privilege  of  going  to 
school,  provided  they  made  application  to  the  school  commis- 
sion. Teaching  was  done  chiefly  in  the  "old  field"  schools, 
as  they  were  termed.  Teachers  in  these  schools  were  often 
classical  scholars,  and  those  persons  who  could  afford  to 
pay  for  the  tuition  of  their  children  were  required  to  do  so. 
Statistics   relating  to  the  work  of  this   system   are   difficult 


112  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA. 

to  secure,  but  in  Martin  and  Brockenborough's  "Gazetteer" 
of  1833  We  are  told  that  there  were  2,833  schools  in  which 
the  State  was  interested,  and  that  there  were  in  the  hun- 
dred counties  32,804  poor  children,  of  which  number  17,087 
were  in  school  at  the  expense  of  $42,996.27.  The  State  also 
paid  for  the  text-books  for  these  poor  children. 

At  the  close  of  the  Civil  War  a  free  public  school  system 
was  provided  for,  and  now  in  every  city  and  county  are  a 
number  of  schools  free  to  all,  maintained  with  State  aid  by 
the  city,  county  or  district,  as  the  case  may  be. 

We  are  not  to  conclude,  therefore,  that  Virginia  never 
had  a  public  school  system  until  1870.  It  is  true  that  a  sys- 
tem of  schools  free  to  all  did  not  exist  until  then,  but  edu- 
cation'at  the  expense  of  the  State  had  been  provided  since  I79^-') 
and  more  full}^  since  1809,  for  those  who  were  not  in  a  posi- 
tion to  pay  for  their  own  tuition. 

It  is  an  interesting  fact  that  the  percentage  of  illiteracy 
among  the  whites  in  Virginia  before  the  war  was  very  little 
more  than  the  present  percentage  of  illiteracy,  although  for 
the  last  twenty  years  v/e  have  been  v.'aging  an  active  cam- 
paign in  favor  of  education. 

If  this  chapter  on  education  in  Virginia  seems  to  be  a 
trifle  polemic,  let  it  be  remembered  that  it  is  concerning  a 
matter  about  which  there  has  been  much  unnecessary  misin- 
formation and  misrepresentation  on  the  part  of  those  who 
might  have  known  better.  To  quote  the  saying  of  Sir  Wil- 
liam Berkeley  as  given  in  the  beginning  of  this  chapter, 
without  explanation  or  qualification,  is  to  make  the  inevitable 
impression  that  there  was  no  appreciation  of  edutation  in  the 
Virginia  Colony.  Precisely  this  many  historians  have  been 
willing  to  do;  indeed,  this  impression  has  been  given  so  often, 
that  one  must  have  far  more  equanimity  of  spirit  than  the 
average  Virginian  is  ever  supposed  to  have,  not  to  resent 


jaines  Blair. 

Couimissar^    VVillium  and    Mary    Cullcnc 


BEGINNINGS  OF  EDUCATION  IN  VIRGINIA.   113 

an  imputation  for  which  there  is  so  little  basis  of  fact  in  a 
history  easily  tiO  be  known  and  understood.  This  utterance 
must  not  be  taken  as  a  disparagement  of  educational  move- 
ments in  other  parts  of  colonial  America.  The  superb  edu- 
cational work  of  our  fellow-countrymen  of  New  England  has 
become  at  once  the  heritage  and  the  pride  of  all  patriotic 
Americans.  The  plain  truth  is  that,  living  in  such  an  era  and 
being  fresh  from  the  atmosphere  of  Europe  in  the  sixteenth 
century,  it  were  not  possible,  either  at  Jamestown  or  at  Ply- 
mouth, to  be  other  than  interested  in  education  and  the  ad- 
vance of  letters.  On  anything  like  a  close  scrutiny  it  will  be 
discovered  that  here,  as  elsewhere,  the  life  of  the  colonists 
moved  along  parallel  lines.  This  must  needs  be  so,  because 
there  was  to  them  both  a  common  ancestry  and,  in  things 
vital  and  essential,  a  common  environment. 


CHAPTER  IX. 
THE  LABOR  SYSTEM  OF  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA. 

The  intelHg-ence  of  the  first  Virg-inians  was  such  as  to  en- 
able them  to  understand  that  larger  returns  might  be  had 
from  a  wise  use  of  the  brain  than  from  the  employment  of 
the  hand  only.  Their  ambitions  were  larger  than  could  be 
satisfied  with  the  product  of  their  own  hands.  They  discov- 
ered very  soon  that  in  the  cultivation  of  tobacco  there  was  a 
large  place  for  wise  superintendence.  Not  that  the  first  Vir- 
ginians were  indisposed  to  labor,  for  they  had  already  given 
proof  of  their  willingness  to  perform  hard  labor  and  to  en- 
dure severe  toil  in  the  building  up  of  the  colony.  It  was  sim- 
ply a  question  as  to  what  methods  would  produce  the  largest 
results.  It  seemed  to  them  that  instead  of  cultivating  to- 
bacco in  such  insignificant  patches  as  only  one  hand  could 
care  for,  that  much  larger  returns  would  come  from  the  culti- 
vation of  such  areas  as  would  require  many  hands  under  wise 
direction. 

The  forms  of  labor  in  the  Virginia  Colony  really  distin- 
guished it  from  the  northern  colonies.  This  form  of  service 
grew  out  of  the  necessities  of  the  case.  In  the  cultivation  of 
tobacco  a  cheap  form  of  labor  was  required,  and  the  rapidity 
with  which  the  cultivation  of  tobacco  spread,  made  an  un- 
usually hasty  and  urgent  d'emand  on  the  labor  market.  It 
w^as  necessary,  if  the  supply  of  tobacco  should  keep  pace  with 
the  rapidly  increasing  demand  for  it,  that  large  areas  of  land 
should  be  brought  under  cultivation,  and  to  do  this  much 
new  land  had  to  be  cleared  and  many  hands  had  to  be  there- 

114 


LABOR  SYSTEM  OF  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA.    115 

fore  employed.  This  condition  will  explain  the  rapid  develop- 
ment and  establishment  of  the  form  of  labor  employed  in  the 
Virginia  Colony.  At  first  only  white  labor  was  employed, 
with  here  and  there  an  Indian  who  had  been  indentured  by 
his  parents.  It  was  not  until  1619  that  there  was  even  a  be- 
g-inning-  in  the  employment  of  negro  labor.  The  increase  of 
this  class  was  very  slow  for  many  years. 

The  S5-stem  of  labor  known  as  the  "indenture  sj^stem" 
was  the  method  employed.  Under  such  an  arrangement  the 
laborer  either  sold  himself  or  was  sold  to  a  master  under 
such  agreements  as  were  mutually  acceptable,  and  under 
such  conditions  as  were  clearly  understood. 

Of  the  white  labor  there  were  two  sorts,  voluntary  and 
involuntary.  There  was  a  class  of  laborers  who  entered  of 
their  own  accord  into  this  arrangement  of  indenture.  They 
were  people  who  were  anxious  to  come  to  Virginia  but  who 
were  unable  to  bear  the  expense  of  coming,  and  who  were 
unable  to  adequately  equip  themselves  for  any  productive 
v/ork  in  the  colony.  So  in  order  to  be  in  a  position  to  come 
to  the  colon}',  they  selected  for  a  term  of  years  to  become  the 
servants  of  some  masters  with  whom  a  satisfactory  contract 
could  be  made.  j\Iany  of  these  were  thoroughly  good  people, 
and  after  the  term  of  indenture  expired  took  an  honorable  and 
useful  place  in  the  community,  none  the  less  respected  and 
esteemed  because  of  their  term  of  indenture. 

The  involuntary  class  was  composed  of  people  who,  for 
one  reason  or  another,  were  forced  into  service  against  their 
wishes.  There  were  those  who  were  kidnapped  by  agents  or 
masters  of  vessels  and  brought  to  the  colony.  These  were 
usually  taken  from  the  streets  of  the  larger  cities,  more  espe- 
cially from  London  and  Bristol.  The  larger  part  of  the  kid- 
napped class  were  boys  and  girls  who  had  not  arrived  at  the 
age  of  maturity.  It  is  easy  to  see  that  there  might  be  very 
great  extremes  in  the  character  of  these  people.     Children  ox 


ii6  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA. 

the  better  stock  mig-ht  easily  have  been  kidnapped  as  well  as 
those  of  the  worse  kind.  At  any  rate,  it  is  known  that  from 
this  class  there  came  to  prominence  and  usefulness  some  wor- 
thy persons. 

Among-  the  involuntary  class  can  also  be  placed  the  crimi- 
nals who  were  exported  from  England  to  the  colony.  These 
themselves  are  to  be  sub-divided  into  two  plainly  distinct 
classes.  There  was  one  class  of  the  flagrantly  criminal  com- 
ing from  the  lowest  conditions  of  society.  These  had  been 
guilty  of  every  possible  crime,  and  were  exported  to  the  colo- 
nies to  be  sold  into  slavery,  thus  ridding-  the  old  country  of  a 
bad  class  of  people  and  saving  expenses  incident  to  the  en- 
forcement of  penalties.  Although  there  was  an  exceedingly 
g-reat  necessity  for  labor,  it  was  early  discovered  that  such 
additions  to  the  colony  were  of  no  real  advantage,  but  rather 
introduced  an  element  of  danger  that  had  been  succesfully 
avoided  up  to  this  time. 

Of  the  class  of  criminals  there  were  many  whose  offenses 
had  been  comparatively  light,  the  penalty  for  their  wrong- 
doing being  all  out  of  proportion  in  severity  to  the  crime  com- 
mitted. For  instance,  for  a  woman  to  steal  a  piece  of  meat 
for  her  hungry  children,  was,  according  to  the  law  of  England, 
guilt}^  of  a  capital  offense,  and  the  penalty  was  death.  This  ex- 
treme penalty  w^as  very  common  even  for  such  slight  offenses, 
and  presented  an  inexpensive  and  quick  way  of  ridding  the 
communit}'  of  violators  of  the  law.  But  among  the  judges  and 
magistrates  there  was  a  sense  of  justice  that  made  them  very 
willing-  to  substitute  the  penalty  of  exportation  for  those  who 
were  not  hardened  criminals.  Very  many  who  came  to  Vir- 
ginia as  criminals  were  realh'  criminals  in  no  serious  sense 
of  the  term.  They  had  been  violators  of  the  law  in  a  way 
which  in  our  day  would  be  considered  a  very  small  offense, 
and  the  penalty  of  which  would  be  a  small  fine  or  a  few  days' 
imprisonment.  Many  of  these  having  been  given  a  new  chance 


LABOR  SYSTEM  OF  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA.     117 

under  favorable  conditions,  vindicated  themselves  of  the  badge 
of  crime  under  which  they  had  come  to  the  colonies. 

Still  another  class  of  those  who  entered  unwillingl}^  into 
service  consisted  of  political  offenders  and  prisoners  of  war. 
Of  the  political  offenders  there  were  never  very  many.  After 
the  restoration  of  the  monarchy  not  a  few  dissenters  w^ere 
exported  to  the  colonies,  and  were  indentured  for  a  term  of 
service.  Many  of  these  were  substantial  people,  and  after^ 
wards  occupied  places  in  society  befitting  their  character  and 
capacity. 

Of  the  prisoners  of  war  there  were  quite  a  large  number 
sent  over  from  time  to  time.  In  1651,  after  the  battle  of  Wor- 
cester, there  were  sent  into  Virginia  1,610  soldiers.  Two 
years  later  100  Irish  prisoners  of  war  were  sent  over.  In 
1685  a  number  of  the  followers  of  Monmouth  came  over. 

The  contracts  entered  into  between  the  servant  and  his 
master  were  very  simple,  usually  indicating  the  term  of  years 
for  which  the  indenture  was  to  last,  the  services  required  and 
the  compensation  given.  If  auA^thing  else  was  thought  to  be 
desirable  in  the  way  of  protection  to  either  party,  it  was  in- 
corporated in  the  contract  upon  a  mutual  understanding. 

A  form  of  the  indenture  contract  is  submitted.  It  is  a 
form  preserved  by  Mr.  Neil  in  his  "Virginia  Carolorum,"'  and 
is  taken  as  being  typical  of  those  generally  in  use  at  that  time. 
A  farmer  of  Surrey  county,  England,  contracts  and  binds  him- 
self to  a  citizen,  an  ironmonger  in  London,  as  follows: 

"To  continue  an  obedient  servant  of  him,  the  said  Ed- 
ward Hurd,  and  his  heirs  and  assigns,  and  so  by  him  or  them 
sente,  transported  unto  the  colony  and  land  of  A^irginia,  in 
the  parts  beyond  the  seas,  to  be  by  him  or  them  imployed  on 
his  plantation  there  for  the  space  of  four  years,  and  will  be 
tractable  and  obedient  and  good  and  faithful,  lonyst  to  be  in 
such  things  as  shall  be  commanded  him.     In  consideration 


ii8  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA. 

thereof  the  said  Edward  Hurd  doth  covenant  that  he  will 
transport  and  furnish  to  the  said  Logwood,  to  and  for  Vir- 
ginia aforesaid,  and  allow  unto  him  sustenance,  meat,  drink, 
and  apparel  and  other  necessities  for  his  livelihood  and  sus- 
tenance during  the  said  services." 

The  phase  of  the  indenture  system  that  gave  most  trou- 
ble, and  about  which  there  was  most  legislation  on  the  part  of 
the  General  Assembly,  was  the  term  of  years  for  which  the 
indenture  was  to  last.  At  first,  in  the  absence  of  any  stipu- 
lated time  in  the  contract,  the  rule  was  that  the  indenture 
should  la3t  for  a  period  of  four  years.  If  the  age  of  a  ser- 
vant was  in  excess  of  twenty-one  years,  the  term  of  inden- 
ture was  four  3^ears ;  if  under  that  age,  five  years ;  and  seven 
years  if  under  the  age  of  twelve.  This  rule  was  changed  in 
1654,  especially  as  far  as  aliens  were  concerned.  When  these 
came  into  the  colony  without  formal  indenture  they  were  re- 
quired, if  more  than  sixteen  years  old,  to  serve  for  a  term  of 
six  years;  if  under  that  age,  he  was  to  serve  until  he  was 
twenty-four  years  of  age.  This  seems  to  have  been  unfavor- 
able to  the  increase  of  emigration,  and  the  rule  was  some- 
what modified  later. 

The  construction  of  the  contracts  of  indenture  were  usu- 
ally made  with  careful  regard  to  the  rights  of  the  servant, 
and  the  authorities  were  scrupulous  usually  in  seeing  that  the 
parts  of  the  agreement  having  to  do  with  the  personal  care 
and  treatment  of  the  servant  were  fully  and  satisfactorily 
carried  out ;  and  while  there  may  have  been  some  isolated 
cases  of  serious  imposition  on  the  part  of  the  master,  in  the 
main  the  agreements  entered  into  were  honorably  observed. 
Indeed,  so  great  was  the  demand  for  labor  of  this  sort  that 
it  behooved  the  masters,  on  grounds  of  sheer  expediency,  to 
maintain  in  all  particulars  the  agreements  entered  into.  Or- 
dinarily, the  servants  were  well  fed,  securely  housed  and  com- 


LABOR  SYSTEM  OF  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA.     119 

fortably  clothed.  A  comparison  made  between  this  class  of 
laborers  in  the  colonies  and  even  the  better  class  of  laborers 
in  the  old  country  would,  in  things  most  essential,  be  greatly 
to  the  advantage  of  the  Virginia  servants. 

Next  to  the  matter  of  the  term  of  service,  trouble  was 
had  with  the  3'ounger  indentured  servants  in  their  disposition 
to  run  away.  While  very  heavy  penalties  were  inflicted  upon 
these  runaways  and  upon  those  harboring  them,  the  author- 
ities were  always  careful  to  inquire  whether  there  was  any 
reason  for  dissatisfaction  with  the  treatment  they  received 
at  the  hands  of  their  masters.  There  is  in  the  records  of 
lower  Norfolk  county  an  account  of  an  incident  in  which  a 
boy  had  frequently  run  away  from  his  mistress  and  sought 
refuge  with  a  good  woman  in  the  neighborhood.  A  com- 
plaint was  made  in  his  behalf,  and  the  magistrate  directed 
that  he  should  remain  in  the  house  unto  which  he  had  fled 
until  his  case  was  looked  into ;  and  their  final  verdict  was 
that  he  should  remain  there  until  his  mistress  should  give  her 
consent  to  provide  him  with  food,  clothing  and  other  neces- 
sities which  the  evidence  showed  she  had  denied  him.  A 
committee  was  appointed  to  see  that  this  verdict  of  the  court 
was  carried  out,  and  when  it  was  ascertained  that  she  con- 
tinued in  her  harsh  treatment  of  the  boy,  he  was  taken  away 
entirely  from  her  possession. 

The  usual  penalty  for  running  away  was  to  double  the 
time  of  service  agreed  upon  in  the  contract  of  indenture,  and 
also  to  pay  the  amount  expended  in  the  capture  and  return 
of  the  runaway.  In  addition  to  this  it  was  sometimes  al- 
lowed that  the  runaway  be  whipped.  There  were  numerous 
laws  made  by  the  Assembly  with  reference  to  runaway  ser- 
vants. Considering  the  character  of  man}'  of  the  indentured 
servants  it  is  remarkable  that  there  were  no  serious  outbreaks 
among  them. 


I20  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA. 

Another  source  of  serious  trouble  with  the  indentured 
servants  was  the  matter  of  marria,8^e,  especially  secret  mar- 
riage. It  became  necessary  to  pass  an  act  that  before  any 
lethal  ceremony  might  be  performed  both  parties  to  the  mar- 
riage contract  should  present  the  written  consent  of  their 
respective  masters.  This  law  was  made  necessary  on  ac- 
count of  the  confusion  that  inevitably  followed  the  marrying 
where  there  were  different  masters  involved.  The  penalty 
attached  to  the  violation  of  this  law  was  the  extension  of  the 
term  of  the  husband's  service  for  twelve  months,  while  the 
term  of  extension  of  the  wife's  service  was  to  be  twice  the 
time  set  forth  in  the  original  contract.  The  clergymen  were 
strictly  prohibited  from  announcing  the  bans  of  this  class  of 
people  or  from  joining  them  in  marriage  without  first  having 
received  the  signed  certificates  indicating  the  consent  of  their 
masters. 

A.11  the  evidence  seems  to  indicate  that  usually  the  kind- 
est relations  existed  between  the  master  and  servant.  At  the 
close  of  the  seventeenth  century  the  sentiment  in  the  colonv 
was  always  kindly  disposed  toward  the  servants  in  every 
matter  of  difference  and  discontent.  No  master  was  per- 
mitted to  whip  a  white  servant  on  the  naked  back  until  spe- 
cial permission  had  been  granted  by  the  court,  and  if  he  in- 
sisted upon  doing  so  without  the  magistrate's  authority,  he 
was  fined  twenty  shillings.  The  justices  of  the  peace  were 
by  law  compelled  to  receive  all  complaints  of  servants  touch- 
ing the  matters  of  food,  clothing  and  lodging,  and  medical 
services  in  case  of  sickness.  If  there  was  any  suspicion  that 
the  justices  themselves  were  disposed  to  be  partial  to  the 
land  owners  rather  than  to  the  servant,  it  was  permitted  the 
servant  to  file  a  petition  in  the  County  Court  immediately,  not 
waiting  for  the  delay  of  a  formal  process  of  action. 

There  was  also  careful  provision  made  for  the  improve- 


LABOR  SYSTEM  OF  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA.     121 

ment  of  the  relig^ious  and  moral  lives  of  the  servants.  By  a 
provision  in  the  laws  of  the  colony  the  masters  v^ere  respon- 
sible for  their  instruction  in  the  catechism,  and  were  com- 
pelled to  send  them  to  the  nearest  church  before  the  evening 
service  to  be  taught  by  the  minister  of  the  parish  the  Ten 
Commandments,  the  Lord's  Prayer  and  the  Creed. 

As  a  rule  a  white  woman  did  not  labor  in  the  fields,  but 
her  services  were  confined  to  doing  domestic  functions.  Only 
when  she  was  thoroughly  disreputable  was  she  required  to 
perform  labor  in  the  fields. 

The  hours  of  service  for  indentured  servants  were  from 
sunrise  to  sunset,  but  with  intermissions  at  the  noon  hour 
for  dinner,  and  a  longer  intermission  of  four  or  five  hours 
when  the  sun  became  oppressive,  especially  in  the  new 
grounds  that  were  being  cleared.  The  scarcity  of  labor  al- 
ways made  it  expedient  for  the  masters  to  give  the  servants 
such  kindly  and  wholesome  care  and  treatment  as  would  pre- 
serve their  strength  and  enable  them  to  do  the  best  possible 
wort. 

When  the  term  for  which  the  servant  had  been  indentured 
expired,  there  were  certain  privileges  allowed  him,  which,  if 
taken  advantage  of,  established  him  most  auspiciously  for  a 
new  career.  Under  the  first  regulation  of  the  London  Com- 
pany at  the  expiration  of  a  term  of  service  there  was  given  to 
each  one  hundred  acres  of  land,  and  when  this  was  occupied 
each  was  entitled  to  another  one  hundred  acres.  Those  who 
were  bound  for  a  term  of  years  came  to  their  freedom  under 
circumstances  even  more  propitious  and  promising.  They 
were  allowed  corn  for  twelve  months  and  a  house  in  which 
to  live,  and  were  presented  with  clothing  and  a  cow.  They 
could  have  all  the  land  that  they  were  able  to  cultivate,  and 
were  furnished  with  all  the  implements  necessary  in  their 
work.    All  this  was  allowed  for  a  term  of  seven  years.     Dur.- 


122  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA. 

ing  that  time  one-half  of  all  the  increase  from  his  crops  and 
from  the  cattle  was  allowed  each  servant,  and  a  tract  of 
twenty-five  acres  at  an  insignificant  rent  of  two  pence  per 
annum. 

The  question  has  often  been  agitated  as  to  what  extent 
the  complexion  of  these  early  communities  was  fixed  by  the 
presence  of  so  large  a  class  of  servants.  The  facts  seem  to 
be  that  while  there  were,  not  a  few  honorable  exceptions,  that 
this  class  of  people  failed  to  rise  to  any  influential  place  in 
the  community.  The  more  thrifty  of  them  found  for  them- 
selves small  farms  where  they  led  quiet  and  useful  lives. 
Most  of  them,  however,  by  an  inevitable  law  of  social  gravi- 
tation, occupied  a  lower  place  in  the  society  of  the  day. 
Bishop  IMeade  may  be  quoted  as  saying  this  with  reference 
to  the  descendants  of  this  class  of  people : 

"The  lower  order  of  persons  in  Virginia,  in  a  great  meas- 
ure, sprang  from  those  apprenticed  servants  and  from  poor 
exiled  culprits.  It  is  not  wonderful  that  there  should  have 
been  much  debasement  of  character  among  the  poorest  popu- 
lation, and  that  the  negroes  of  the  first  families  should  always 
have  considered  themselves  to  be  a  more  respectable  class. 
To  this  day  there  are  many  who  look  upon  poor  white  folks 
(for  so  they  call  them)  as  much  beneath  themselves,  and  in 
truth  they  are  so  in  many  respects." 

The  agitation  of  the  question  as  to  the  descent  pf  some 
of  the  old  families  of  Virginia  from  the  class  of  indentured 
servants  is  scarcely  worth  seriously  considering.  We  quote 
from  a  New  England  historian,  Mr.  Fiske,  who  could  not  pos- 
sibly rest  under  suspicion  of  partiality  when  he  said : 

"Nothing  can  be  more  certain  than  that  the  representa- 
tive families  of  Virginia  were  not  descended  from  convicts  or 
from  indentured  servants  of  any  sort.  The  registered  facts 
abundantly  prove  that  the  leading  families  had  precisely  the 


LABOR  SYSTEM  OF  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA.     123 

• 

same  sort  of  origin  as  the  leading  families  in  New  England. 
For  the  most  part  they  were  either  country  squires,  yeoman 
or  craftsmen  from  the  numerous  urban  guilds,  and  alike  in 
Virginia  and  in  New  England  there  was  the  same  propor- 
tion of  persons  connected  with  English  families,  ennobled  or 
otherwise  eminent  for  public  service." 

There  were  two  features  of  the  indenture  system  that 
caused  it  to  fall  into  disfavor  with  the  planters.  First,  the 
character  of  the  laborers  was  a  very  serious  drawback  and 
menace  to  the  peace  of  the  community,  and  long  before  the 
end  of  the  seventeenth  century  both  Virginia  and  Maryland 
began  to  protest  against  the  policy  of  dumping  the  criminal 
class  upon  their  shores.  It  was  realized  that  if  the  demands 
for  labor  were  ever  satisfied  by  reinforcements  from  this  class 
of  men  that  their  number  would  be  so  great  as  to  seriously 
threaten  the  colony. 

The  second  source  of  dissatisfaction  was  lodged  in  the 
frequent  expirations  of  the  terms  of  indenture  service.  It  was 
a  matter  of  constant  and  anxious  solicitude  on  the  planters' 
part  as  to  how  they  were  to  supply  the  places  of  those  whose 
term  of  service  was  about  to  expire.  Many  of  those  whose 
terms  had  expired,  would,  to  be  sure,  remain  as  tenants  and 
continue  in  the  service  of  the  planters,  but  a  sufficient  num- 
ber sought  to  establish  themselves  upon  places  of  their  own, 
to  make  it  difficult  to  have  their  places  supplied.  It  was  al- 
most impossible  for  any  stability  to  be  maintained  in  the  ser- 
vice of  the  colony  under  such  a  system. 

These  two  considerations  contributed  greatly  to  the  estab- 
lishment of  African  slavery.  As  a  usual  thing  the  African 
was  docile  and  could  be  controlled  without  any  very  great 
difficulty.  For  the  sort  of  work  required  in  the  cultivation 
of  tobacco,  they  were  especially  adapted.  Already  the  culti- 
vation of  tobacco  in  Spain  had  made  demonstration  of  this 


124  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA. 

fact,  and  as  Spain  was  the  competitor  of  Virg-inia  in  the  pro- 
duction and  sale  of  tobacco,  the  Virginia  planter  began  to 
realize  that  unless  a  more  stable  and  reliable  form  of  service 
could  be  introduced,  that  they  would  be  at  a  very  serious  dis- 
advantag^e  in  the  competition  for  the  trade  in  tobacco.  Thus 
it  came  to  be,  in  the  course  of  years,  the  conviction  of  the 
Virginia  planter  that  if  the  cultivation  of  tobacco  was  to  con- 
tinue, and  to  be  enlarged  as  the  demand  for  it  increased,  a 
more  docile  and  a  more  stable  form  of  service  must  be  em- 
ployed. 

1619  marks  the  date  of  the  bringing  of  the  negro  to  the 
American  continent.  By  John  Rolfe  it  was  recorded  that 
"about  the  last  of  August  there  came  in  a  Dutch  man-of-war 
that  sold  us  twenty  negars."  It  seems  that  this  first  cargo  of 
slaves  was  brought  to  the  colony  without  any  premeditation 
or  concert  of  action  on  the  part  of  an3^one.  It  was  a  venture 
lof  the  master  of  the  Dutch  vessel,  possibly  at  the  suggestion 
of  Argall,  with  whose  privateering  ship,  The  Treasure,  he 
had  been  thrown  for  a  little  while  cruising  off  the  Spanish 
coast.  There  were  twenty  of  these  first  slaves.  They  were 
distributed  among  the  various  settlements,  the  most  of  them, 
it  is  said,  being  held  by  Governor  Yeardley  on  the  company's 
lands.  In  the  five  years  following  1619  there  was  an  increase 
of  only  two  in  the  number  of  African  slaves  in  the  colony. 
The  census  of  the  population  taken  in  162^-2^  showed  the 
presence  of  twenty-two,  as  compared  with  the  twenty  that 
had  been  introduced  into  the  colony  five  years  before.  One 
of  these  two  additional  slaves  was  brought  in  by  The  Treas- 
ure in  1619,  and  the  other  had  come  in  a  vessel  called  The 
Swan  in  1623.  Two  children  were  included  in  this  census. 
Their  ages  are  not  recorded,  and  it  is  impossible  to  say  whether 
they  were  born  in  America  or  whether  they  were  included  in 
the  original  twenty  brought  in  1619.     In  the  fearful  massacre 


LABOR  SYSTEM  OF  COLONIAL  VIRGINL\.     125 

pf  1622  none  of  the  negroes  were  killed.  This  in  all  proba- 
bility is  to  be  attributed  to  the  manner  of  their  distribution 
in  the  colony.  It  will  be  r'^membered  that  Jamestown  es- 
caped this  massacre,  while  the  upper  settlements,  especially 
the  "Fleur  De  Hundred"  suffered  most  grievously.  Many  of 
the  negroes  still  remained  at  Jamestown,  and  probably  their 
exemption  from  the  slaughter  grows  out  of  that  fact.  Five 
years  after  the  census  of  162^-2^,  an  addition  to  the  African 
slave  population  was  made  by  the  ship  Fortune.  The  entire 
cargo  was  sold  for  eighty-five  hogsheads  of  tobacco.  These 
slaves  were  distributed  immediately  and  with  very  little 
trouble. 

For  the  first  half  of  the  seventeenth  century  all  the  slaves 
introduced  into  the  colony  were  brought  in  this  desultory 
fashion.  There  was  no  organized  or  systematic  effort  in  that 
direction ;  only  occasionally,  without  any  advanced  agreement 
or  contract,  one  ship  after  another  would  drop  in  and  dispose 
of  its  cargo,  which,  in  most  instances,  it  had  captured  while 
on  privateering  voyages. 

The  first  exclusive  right  to  conduct  the  slave  traffic  was 
granted  by  the  English  Government  in  1618  to  the  Earl  of 
Warwick  and  those  associated  with  him.  In  1631  another 
charter  was  granted  by  Charles  I.  to  an  organization  that 
made  system.atic  and  elaborate  preparations  for  traffic  in  ne- 
groes along  the  Guinea  coast.  As  far  as  Virginia  was  con- 
cerned, the  number  of  slaves  brought  in  by  this  compan}^  was 
very  small.  For  a  space  of  eighteen  years  after  this  charter 
had  been  secured  by  this  company,  the  number  of  slaves  in 
the  colony,  all  told,  was  not  over  three  hundred.  Thirty  years 
had  now  passed  since  the  first  slaves  were  landed  in  1619,  so 
that  in  all  probability  a  good  proportion  of  these  three  hun- 
dred may  be  attributed  to  the  natural  increase  of  the  popula- 
tion.   Quite  a  number,  however,  had  been  introduced  by  plant- 


126  :COLONIAL  VIRGINIA. 

ers  lOr  ship  owners,  who  availed  themselves  of  the  principle 
of  the  head  rig-ht.  The  records  show  that  Mr.  Richard  Ben- 
net  was  the  first  to  avail  himself  of  this  head  right  law,  and 
took  out  a  patent  in  the  office  of  the  Registrar  at  Richmond 
for  fifty  acres  to  be  allowed  him  for  the  importation  of  the 
slave  "Angela,"  landed  by  the  ship  Fortune.  From  this  be- 
ginning, for  every  slave  imported  into  the  colony  their  owners 
sought  the  privilege  and  reward  of  the  head  right.  In  many- 
instances  the  patents  of  land  thus  granted  ran  into  the  thou- 
sands and  tens  of  thousands  of  acres. 

It  will  be  seen  from  this  slow  importation  of  negroes  that 
the  institution  of  slaver}^  in  the  Ciolony  up  to  the  last  of  the 
seventeenth  century  was,  on  the  whole,  rather  insignficant. 
Even  in  1663,  forty-four  years  or  nearly  a  half  a  century  after 
the  importation  of  the  first  slaves,  there  were  only  about  1,500 
negroes  in  the  colony,  and  it  was  1670  before  it  had  risen  to 
the  number  of  2,000. 

In  1672  another  charter  was  granted  to  the  Royal  African 
Company,  that  was  destined  to  become  the  agency  for  the 
transporting  of  a  large  number  of  slaves  to  America.  It  was 
some  years,  however,  before  the  population  was  perceptibly 
increased.  The  period  of  discontent,  from  1670  to  1680,  which 
was  characterized  by  the  rebellion  under  Bacon,  was  discour- 
aging to  the  importation  of  the  slave. 

At  the  end  of  the  seventeenth  century  it  is  estimated  that 
the  entire  African  population  in  the  colony  amounted  to  only 
about  six  thousand.  When  one  considers  the  fact  that  many 
of  these  must  have  been  by  natural  increase,  it  will  be  easily 
seen  that  the  importation  of  negroes  from  Africa  was  exceed- 
ingly slow,  and  that  they  came  in  squads  and  groups,  at  no 
time  in  any  large  numbers.  At  first  they  were  brought  to  the 
colony  in  vessels  sailing  under  the  Dutch  flag.  Later  on  New 
England  merchants  became  interested  in  the  slave  traffic,  and 


'LABOR  SYSTEM  OF  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA.    127 

perhaps  in  the  vessels  manned  by  New  Eng-landers  the  larger 
number  of  African  slaves  were  introduced  into  the  colonies. 

After  the  beginning  of  the  eighteenth  century  the  im- 
portation of  slaves  was  greatly  accelerated.  They  were  dis- 
tributed as  the  peculiar  conditions  of  each  colony  demanded, 
the  conditions  of  life  in  the  more  northern  colonies  being  such 
as  not  to  require  this  particular  form  of  service.  Many  Afri- 
cans were  imported  and  employed,  and  by  the  time  of  the 
Revolution  there  were  negro  slaves  in  all  the  American  colo- 
nies. In  the  southern  colonies  the  number  of  slaves  in  some 
instances  equalled  the  entire  white  population.  In  Virginia 
the  census  indicated  that  the  population  was  about  equally 
divided,  being  something  like  250,000  white  population  and 
250,000  negro  slave  population. 

There  is  no  indication  that  during  all  this  term  of  years 
anybody's  conscience  was  especially  disturbed.  The  northern 
and  New  England  colonies  were  altogether  as  innocent  of 
qualms  of  conscience  as  were  the  southern  colonies.  The 
truth  is  that  the  Africans  were  looked  upon  as  so  much  chat- 
tel, to  be  sold  and  bought,  fed  and  clothed,  taxed  and  kept  as 
other  cattle  and  beasts  were.  When  the  question  of  the 
religious  standing  of  the  African  was  raised,  the  answer  came 
from  many  quarters  that  really  they  were  not  morally  re- 
sponsible beings ;  that  they  were  either  merely  animal,  or  so 
little  removed  from  that  estate  as  to  have  no  responsibility 
and  no  capacity  in  moral  and  spiritual  things.  A  certain  elect 
lady  of  the  Barbadoes,  herself  said  to  be  very  pious  and 
saintly,  is  reported  by  Mr.  Godwyn  to  have  said  "that  he 
might  as  well  baptize  puppies  as  negroes."  This  ought  not 
to  be  taken  as  an  expression  of  the  sentiment  prevailing  in 
Virginia.  The  views  of  the  slave  owners  in  the  West  Indies 
were  less  advanced  and  less  humane  than  they  were  in  Vir- 
ginia.    Even  in  Virginia,  however,  it  was  not  clear  as  to  just 


128  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA. 

how  far  the  ne^ro  was  capable  of  religion,  and,  therefore,  to 
what  extent  they  should  be  accorded  religious  privileges  and 
to  what  extent  it  was  necessary  to  be  exercised  over  the  mat- 
ter of  his  salvation.  The  question  was  somewhat  complicated 
by  the  notion  that  to  make  a  Christian  of  him  was  to  com- 
pel that  he  be  treated  as  one  Christian  should  treat  another. 
This  particular  perplexity  was  settled  by  an  act  of  the  House 
of  Burgesses,  which  declared  that  submission  to  the  rites  of 
the  church  did  not  emancipate  the  slave.  The  following 
action  was  taken  by  the  House  of  Burgesses  in  1667: 

"Whereas,  Some  doubts  have  risen  whether  children  who 
are  slaves  by  birth,  and  by  the  charity  and  piety  of  their 
owners,  made  partakers  of  the  blessed  sacrament  of  baptism, 
should,  by  virtue  of  their  baptism  be  made  free :  It  is  enacted 
and  declared  by  this  Grand  Assembly  and  the  authorities 
thereof,  that  the  conferring  of  baptism  doth  not  alter  the  con- 
dition of  the  person  as  to  his  bondage  or  freedom ;  that  divers 
masters  freed  from  this  doubt  may  more  carefully  endeavor 
the  propagation  of  Christianity  by  permitting  children,  though 
slaves,  or  those  of  greater  growth  if  capable,  to  be  admitted 
by  that  sacrament," 

It  is  a  fact  to  which  Mr.  Bruce  calls  attention,  that  one 
of  the  two  African  children  included  in  the  census  of  1624-2$ 
v>'as  entered  in  the  general  list  as  having  received  baptism, 
and  this  incident  was  transacted  fifty  years  before  the  treatise 
of  Mr.  Godwyn. 

In  the  year  1661  there  was  sent  out  from  the  Council  for 
Foreign  Plantations  a  communication  to  the  authorities  in 
the  colonies  of  Virginia  and  the  Barbadoes,  asking  that  min- 
isters of  the  gospel  who  would  give  themselves  especially  to 
the  work  of  evangelizing  the  n<^gro,  should  be  brought  into 
the  colonies  as  soon  as  possible,  and  that  these  ministers  be 


LABOR  SYSTEM  OF  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA.     129 

enjoined  to  g"ive  themselves  assiduously  to  the  preparation 
of  the  African  for  the  rites  of  baptism. 

As  time  wore  on  and  the  two  peoples  were  brought  into 
more  intimate  relations,  skepticism  yielded  to  an  almost  unani- 
mous conviction  that,  after  all,  the  Africans  were  human; 
laboring,  to  be  sure,  under  some  serious  disabilities.  The 
llieological  consensus  was,  that  the  negro  was  salvable;  and 
as  much  consideration  was  had  for  his  religious  life  as  cir- 
cumstances in  those  days  would  seem  to  allow.  Certain  it  is 
that  in  an  incredibly  short  time  the  negro  became  evangelized 
almost  en  masse.  In.  the  light  of  after  events  the  institution 
of  slavery  must  be  considered  as  the  mightiest  evangelical 
agency  that  has  ever  been  employed  in  the  effort  to  convert 
the  world  to  Christianity.  Though  we  do  not  suppose  that 
the  pious  Dutchman  and  the  saintly  Puritans  of  New  England 
who  brought  them  to  these  shores,  or  the  godly  Cavaliers  of 
Virginia  who  bought  them  and  kept  them,  will  arrogate  to 
themselves  credit  for  so  glorious  a  consummation;  seeing  that 
the  evangelical  motive  was  exceedingly  remote  in  these  early 
transactions  connected  with  the  institution  of  slavery. 

It  ought  to  be  remembered  that  while  not  very  vociferous 
or  insistent,  here  and  there  were  voices  even  in  the  South 
lifted  against  the  continuation  and  perpetuation  of  the  insti- 
tution. Such  men  as  Mr.  Mason  uttered  sentiments  s'o  harsh 
and  extravagant  as  almost  to  discount  the  boldest  utterances 
cf  the  most  rantankerous  New  England  abolitionist.  It  is 
worth  while  remembering  that  the  sentiment  entertained  by 
I^Ir.  Jefferson  and  the  governmental  principles  touching  this 
matter  submitted  by  him  were  very  nearly  in  accord  with  the 
sentiments  and  principles  of  government  entertained  by  Abra- 
ham Lincoln,  and  upon  which  he  was  elevated  to  the  Presi- 
dency of  these  United  States, 

This  much  may  be  truly  said,  that  the  nearest  approach  to 


130  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA. 

unanimity  of  opinion  with  regard  to  the  institution  of  slavery 
that  ever  has  prevailed  in  this  country  was  in  the  first  century 
cf  its  existence ;  and  that  that  opinion  was  favorable  to  its 
establishment  and  perpetuation. 


CHAPTER  X. 

THE   FIRST  AMERICAN   LEGISLATIVE   ASSEMBLY 
AND  ITS  SIGNIFICANCE. 

After  the  London  Company  had  secured  its  second  char- 
ter in  1609,  there  were  introduced  a  great  many  new  stock- 
Hiolders ;  among-  them  the  Archbishop  oi  Canterbury,  six 
bishops,  twenty-four  earls,  twenty-eight  lords,  two  hundred 
and  seventy-four  knights  of  the  shire,  and  many  gentlemen 
and  merchants,  making  number  of  stockholders  for  1609  to 
1619  reach  a  total  of  1,375.  While  these  gentlemen  added 
very  much  to  the  social  standing  of  the  company,  they  did 
not  add  extensively  to  its  financial  betterment  and  equip- 
ment. The  company  had  already  expended  something  like 
eleven  million  dollars  on  the  enterprise,  and  had  had  no  re- 
turns whatever  fior  this  vast  outlay.  In  spite  of  the  expen- 
diture of  such  a  large  sum  of  money,  and  the  endurance 
of  much  suffering  and  hardship  and  the  loss  of  hundreds  of 
lives,  there  were,  in  1612,  scarcely  more  than  four  hundred 
settlers  in  the  colony  proper,  although  when  Dale  first  came 
over  there  had  been  a  much  larger  population,  due  to  the 
many  adventurers  who  came  at  about  the  same  time.  Under 
these  circumstances  it  is  not  to  be  wondered  at  that  it  was 
exceedingly  difficult  to  procure  financial  support  for  the 
maintenance  of  the  colony.  In  the  emergency  a  lottery  was 
resorted  to,  making  thus  a  popular  appeal  to  all  classes  of 
people.  Whether  this  doubtful  measure  was  a  financial  suc- 
cess or  not,  it  was  at  least  a  fine  advertisement  of  the  en- 

131 


132  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA. 

terprise,  and  to  the  expedient  no  objection  was  raised.  In 
fact,  it  seems  to  have  been  accepted  as  a  perfectly  legitimate 
and  proper  financial  policy. 

If  the  gentlemen  constituting  t];e  last  large  addition  to 
the  stockholders  of  the  company  were  not  responsive  to  ap- 
peals for  money,  they  were  in  the  main  broadminded  and 
patriotic,  and  yielded  themselves  to  persuasions  as  to  a  more 
liberal  policy  in  the  government  of  the  colony.  It  is  not 
definitely  known  why  George  Yeardley  was  asked  in  1617 
to  surrender  to  Samuel  Argall  the  government  of  the  colony 
after  so  short  a  term  as  one  year's  service,  but  there  is  reason 
to  believe  that  it  was  for  the  good  of  the  colony  itself  that  he 
returned  to  England  just  at  the  time  he  did.  He  was  in  a 
position  to  state  or  to  present  the  real  needs  of  the  settle- 
ments. There  can  be  no  doubt  but  that  his  presentation  of 
the  matter  largely  influenced  the  company  in  its  new  policy. 
He  found,  on  his  return,  the  company  already  prepared  for 
such  suggestions  and  counsels  as  he  was  m'ost  competent  to 
give. 

The  company  had  already  determined  to  grant  to  every 
settler  fifty  acres  of  land  as  his  own  private  property.  Thus 
the  communistic  system,  which  had  involved  the  earlier  poli- 
cies of  the  col'ony,  was  broken  down.  Later  on,  with  increas- 
mg  libertlity,  the  allotment  of  land  was  increased  from  fifty 
acres  to  one  hundred  acres,  offered  to  all  new  settlers.  For 
this  advanced  step,  be  it  remembered,  the  wise  and  vigorous 
management  of  Governor  Dale  was  preparatory. 

It  was  while  on  this  visit  Yeardley  was  knighted  by  the 
King.  It  was  an  unusual  honor  for  one  of  so  humble  birth, 
for  he  was  only  a  son  of  a  merchant  tailor.  It  was,  no  doubt, 
bestowed  upon  him  as  a  token  of  the  King's  favor,  but  the 
notion  that  one  in  the  high  office  to  which  he  had  been 
elected  would  be  lacking  in  equipment  if  he  did  not  wear 


The  first  American  Assembly:        133 

some  such  title,  must  have  had  considerable  influence  in  pro- 
curing the  honor.  The  spirit  of  the  day  was  such  that  it 
would  have  been  difficult  fon  him  to  have  secured  to  himself 
the  measure  of  esteem  and  respect  required  by  his  office  if 
he  had  not  been  thus  honored  and  elevated  by  the  royal  favor. 

It  was  on  the  recall  of  Argall,  whose  shameless  manage- 
ment of  the  colony  had  become  a  scandal  even  in  England, 
that  Yeardley  was  appointed  Governor  as  his  successor.  He 
was  sent  out  under  a  commission  giving  him  large  freedom 
and  powers  for  the  inauguration  of  a  liberal  administration. 
Spread  of  the  good  news  in  England  that  Virginia  was  hence- 
forth to  be  governed  on  broad  principles  caused  settlers  to 
flock  to  the  colony,  and  in  a  little  while  the  population  had 
grown  to  be  about  two  thousand. 

The  most  surprising  and  far  reaching  in  their  influence  of 
the  instructions  that  Yeardley  carried  back  with  him  to  Vir- 
ginia was  the  granting  of  the  right  to  establish  in  the  colony 
such  government  as  would  be  best  for  the  inhabitants.  Yeard- 
ley had  not  been  long  in  the  colony  after  his  return  before 
he  announced  that  he,  on  the  authority  of  the  London  Com- 
pany, had  decided  to  establish  a  General  Assembly  in  which 
the  representatives  of  the  colony  would  hereafter  frame  the 
laws  that  should  govern  the  colony.  This  Assembly  was  to 
be  composed  of  the  Governor,  his  council,  and  two  repre- 
sentatives from  each  of  the  scattered  plantations.  There 
were  eleven  of  these  plantations,  and  two  representaives  from 
each  would  make  an  Assembly  of  twenty-two  representatives 
coming  directly  from  the  people.  The  plantations  at  the  time 
of  the  organization  of  the  Assembly  were  as  follows:  James 
City,  Charles  City,  City  of  Henricos,  Kiccowtan,  Brandon, 
Martin's  Plantation,  Smyth's  Hundred,  IMartin's  Hundred, 
Argall's  Gift,  Flower  de  Hundred,  Captain  Lawne's  Planta- 
tion and  Captain  Ward's  Plantation. 


134  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA. 

Following'  the  announcement  of  Governor  Yeardley  the 
'election  of  representatives  from  the  different  plantations  duly 
occurred.  On  the  30th  day  of  July,  1619,  the  Assembly  met 
at  Jamestown.     It  was  composed  of  the  following  members: 

Governor  Yeardley  was  present  as  the  head  of  the  colony. 
It  is  interesting  to  note  that  he  was  the  first  cousin  of  the 
step-father  pf  John  Harvard,  the  founder  of  Harvard  Uni- 
versity. It  is  said  that  his  religious  views  were  not  widely 
different  from  those  entertained  by  the  Puritans  of  New 
England.  The  members  of  the  council,  by  virtue  of  their 
office,  were  also  members  of  this  General  Assembly.  Of 
these  was  Captain  Francis  West,  a  son  of  Sir  Thomas  West, 
and  second  Lord  Delaware.  He  was  president  of  the  coun- 
cil and  had  command  of  the  fort  at  the  falls  on  the  James 
River,  and  had  planted  a  plantation  at  West  Hundred,  known 
afterward  as  Westover  He  is  said  to  have  been  a  direct 
descendant  of  William  the  Conqueror.  He  had  agreed  with 
Clayborne  in  his  opposition  to  the  settlement  of  Maryland  by 
Lord  Baltimore.  Captain  Nathaniel  Powell,  also  a  member 
of  the  council,  was  one  of  the  party  that  explored  the  Chesa- 
peake Bay  with  John  Smith.  He  and  his  wife  were  both 
killed  in  the  Indian  massacre  of  1622.  John  Rolfe,  a  mem- 
ber of  the  council,  the  husband  of  Pocahontas,  and  the  first 
promoter  of  the  cultivation  of  tobacco.  He  had  recently  re- 
turned to  Virginia,  after  the  death  of  his  young  wnfe  at 
Gravesend,  England.  The  Rev.  William  Wickham,  a  mem- 
ber of  the  council,  sat  in  the  Assembly.  It  is  said  of  him 
that  he  was  a  man  of  wide  culture  and  liberal  views.  Cap- 
tain Samuel  Maycock,  likewise  a  member  of  the  council,  was 
a  graduate  of  Cambridge  University,  and  stood  high  in  the 
esteem  of  his  contemporaries.  John  Pory,  the  sixth  mem- 
ber of  the  council,  was  secretary  of  the  colony,  and  was  also 
a  graduate  of  Cambridge.    He  was  an  especial  friend  of  Hak- 


THE  FIRST  AMERICAN  ASSEMBLY.  135 

luyt's,  and  had  at  one  time  sat  in  the  EngHsh  Parhament. 
He  had  done  some  exploring,  and  had  gione  up  the  Nile  as 
far  as  an  inland  lake  in  Abyssinia.  The  only  copy  of  the 
proceedings  of  this  first  General  Assembly  pf  America  is 
preserved  in  the  British  Record  office,  and  is  in  the  hand- 
writing of  John  Pory. 

The  representatives  from  the  plantations  were  as  follows: 
James  City  sent  Captain  William  Powell  and  Ensign  William 
Spence.  It  was  to  Captain  Powell  that  a  friendly  Indian  re- 
vealed the  plot  of  1622,  and  he  was  afterwards  active  in  the 
pursuit  and  slaughter  of  the  Indians.  He  was  finally  killed 
by  the  Indians  on  the  Chickahominy  River  in  1623. 

Charles  City  sent  Samuel  Sharp  and  Samuel  Jordan  Jor- 
dan died  in  1623,  and  left  a  widow  whose  name  was  Cicely. 
Mr.  Jordan  had  not  been  dead  many  weeks  before  the  charm- 
ing Cicely  began  to  take  notice  in  a  very  surprising  manner 
and  allowed  herself,  doubtless  owing  to  the  confusion  caused 
by  her  great  grief  for  her  departed  husband,  to  become  en- 
gaged to  two  gentlemen  at  the  same  time — the  Rev.  Gren- 
ville  Pooley  and  Mr.  William  Ferrar.  Each  insisting  upon 
the  right  of  her  hand,  and  she  apparently  unwilling  to  arbi- 
trate between  the  two,  the  case  was  taken  before  the  council, 
which,  refusing  to  designate  the  favored  gentleman,  with 
consummate  discretion,  the  affair  was  referred  to  the  com- 
pany in  London.  Which  of  the  insistent  gentlemen  finally 
succeeded  to  the  place  of  the  lamented  Jordan  in  the  widow's 
heart  and  home,  by  some  strange  oversight,  history  does  not 
seem  to  record.  One  of  the  two  representatives  from  Flower 
de  Hundred  was  Mr,  Jefferson,  with  whom  Thomas  Jefferson 
claimed  relationship.  One  of  the  delegates  from  Smyth's 
Hundred,  Walter  Shelley,  probably  a  relative  of  the  poet,  died 
suddenly  on  Sunday,  August  ist,  in  the  midst  of  the  Assem- 
bly. 


136  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA. 

On  the  day  appointed  for  the  meeting  of  the  Assembly 
the  Governor  went  in  state  to  the  church  selected  as  the  place 
of  meeting-  with  a  guard  of  halberdiers  dressed  in  the  Gov- 
ernor's livery.  He  was  attended  by  the  councillors  and  fol- 
lowed by  the  twenty-two  newly  elected  delegates. 

The  first  meeting  place  of  the  Assembly  was  in  the  third 
of  the  church  buildings  that  had  been  erected  in  the  colony 
during  the  administration  of  Captain  Samuel  Argall.  It  is 
interesting  to  note  here  that  from  1619  to  1698,  the  years 
during  which  the  Assembly  met  at  Jamestown,  there  were 
four  different  State  houses  in  which  the  meetings  of  the  body 
were  held.  Each  of  these  was  destroyed  in  turn  by  fire.  In 
the  interim  between  these  disasters  the  body  met  in  various 
and  sundry  places,  sometimes  in  the  church,  sometimes  in 
convenient  taverns,  and  sometimes  in  the  Governor's  house. 

The  church  building  occupied  by  the  first  General  As- 
sembly is  said  to  have  been  well  lighted  within,  and  well 
adapted  to  uses  of  the  Assembly,  and,  upon  the  order  of  the 
Governor,  was  made  passing  sweet  and  trimmed  with  divers 
flowers.  The  meeting  is  described  as  follows  by  the  Speaker 
in  his  report  to  the  London  Company : 

"The  moste  convenient  place  we  could  find  to  sitt  in  was 
the  Quire  of  the  Church  where  Sir  George  Yeardley,  the  Gov- 
ernor, sett  downe  in  his  accustomed  place,  those  of  the  Coun- 
cil of  estate  sate  next  him  on  both  handes,  except  only  the 
Secretary,  then  appointed  Speaker,  who  sate  right  before  him, 
John  Twine,  clerke  of  the  General  Assembly,  being  placed 
next  the  Speaker,  and  Thomas  Pierse,  the  Sergeant,  standing 
at  the  barre,  to  be  ready  for  any  service  the  Assembly  should 
commaand  him.  But  for  as  much  as  men's  affaires  doe  little 
prosper  where  God's  service  is  neglected,  all  the  Burgesses 
tooke  their  places  in  the  Quire  until  a  prayer  was  said  by 
Mr.  Bucke,  the  Minister,  that  it  shall  please  God  to  guide  and 


THE  FIRST  AMERICAN  ASSEMBLY.  13; 

sanctifie  all  our  prjoceedings  to  His  own  glory  and  to  the  good 

of  this  plantation.  Prayer  being  ended,  to  the  intente  that 
as  we  had  begun  at  God  Almighty,  so  we  might  proceed  with 
awful  and  due  respecte  toward  the  Lieutenant,  our  most  gra- 
tious  and  dreaded  Soveraigne,  all  the  Burgesses  were  in- 
treated  to  retyre  themselves  into  the  body  of  the  Churche, 
which  being  done,  before  they  were  fully  admitted,  they  were 
called  in  order  and  by  name,  and  so  every  man  (none  stag- 
gering at  it)  tooke  the  Oathe  of  Supremacy." 

Mr.  Bucke,  the  minister  who  conducted  the  religious  devo- 
tio  us  of  this  first  Assembly,  was  the  minister  in  charge  at 
Jairiestown,  and  for  whose  special  use  the  building  in  which 
the  Assembly  met  had  been  erected.  He  was  reputed  to  be 
a  man  of  good  culture  and  fine  character. 

For  a  long  time  the  proceedings  of  this  first  Assembly 
were  lost,  and  it  is  a  matter  of  pride  to  Americans  that  it  was 
Mr.  Bancroft  who  discovered  them  in  the  British  Record  Of- 
fice in  London,  in  the  form  of  a  synopsis  of  the  proceedings 
that  had  been  reported  to  the  London  Company  by  John  Pory. 
The  manuscript  contains  thirty-two  folio  pages,  and  was  re- 
printed in  the  Senate  Documents  of  Virginia  by  the  Legis- 
lature of  1874,  and  is  now  a  volume  very  rare. 

According  to  Pory's  account  the  first  formal  action  of  the 
Assembly  after  it  organized  was  the  reading  of  instructions 
under  which  Governor  Yeardley  was  acting.  Next  came  a 
number  of  petitions  thac  were  to  be  sent  to  the  General  Coun- 
cil of  the  Company  in  London.  One  of  these  petitions  de- 
manded that  the  patent  to  Captain  Martin  be  withdrawn  be- 
cause contrary  to  all  usages  so  far  as  Virginia  was  con- 
cerned (he  had  been  made  lord  of  his  manor),  the  petition 
insisting  that  no  man  should  be  allowed  riglits  which  sus- 
pended for  him  the  operation  of  Virginia  laws.  iThe  insist- 
ence was  equality  of  all  men  before  the  law  and  the  suprem- 


138  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA. 

acy  of  the  laws  of  the  colony.  For  this  reason  the  Bttrgesses 
sitting  as  the  representatives  of  Captain  Martin's  patent  were 
denied  the  right  to  participate  in  the  acts  of  the  Assembly. 
Another  petition  to  the  London  Company  asked  that  the 
lands  already  granted  by  patent  should  not  be  taken  from 
the  settlers  in  the  allotment  of  land  to  the  Governor.  They 
petitioned  further  that  the  company  should  send  tenants  at 
once  for  the  glebe  lands.  They  also  petitioned  that  all  in- 
habitants of  Virginia  should  be  put  upon  an  equal  footing 
■with  reference  to  the  granting  of  lands,  providing  that  a 
'single  share  be  granted  to  the  male  children  born  in  Virginia, 
and  also  to  their  wives,  because  that  "in  a  new  plantation  it 
is  not  known  whether  man  or  woman  be  the  most  necessary." 
They  asked  that  a  treasurer^  resident  in  Virginia,  be  appointed 
to  collect  the  rents  of  the  London  Company,  and  finally  they 
petitioned  that  "toward  the  erection  of  a  university  or  col- 
lege, they  should  send,  when  they  think  most  convenient, 
workmen  of  all  sorts  fit  for  that  purpose."  For  some  reason 
there  was  evident  dissatisfaction  with  the  savage  name  of 
*'Kiccowtan,"  and  they  petitioned  for  a  change  of  the  name. 
The  place  was  afterwards  called  Hampton.  Whether  by  the 
direction  of  the  authorities  or  no,  the  name  still  remains  and 
is  held  until  this  day. 

A  study  .of  the  legislative  acts  of  this  first  Assembly  will 
reveal  the  fact  that  the  first  lawmakers  of  our  country  took 
themselves  ven>^  seriously.  They  legislated  along  many  lines 
and  in  much  detail.  They  assumed  the  care  of  nearly  every 
phase  of  colonial  life,  religious,  civic,  gocial  and  domestic,  and 
even  ventured  into  the  private  life  of  the  individual.  It  should 
be  remembered,  however,  that  these  early  lawmakers  were 
dealing  with  crude  and  primitive  conditions,  and  that  they 
were  legislating  not  for  the  twentieth  century,  under  an  ad- 
vanced  civilization,  but  for  the   seventeenth   century,   under 


THE  FIRST  AMERICAN  ASSEMBLY.  139 

exceptional  conditions.  They  were  making-  laws  for  them- 
selves, living  under  conditions  very  different  from  their  broth- 
ers in  England.  And  yet  in  all  their  legislation  there  ap- 
pears an  absolute  sincerity  of  purpose  and  a  moral  earnest- 
ness that  is  most  refreshing  in  this  day  of  complicated  and 
elaborate  law  making.  If  they  undertook  to  regulate  matters 
that  seem  to  us  to  be  removed  from  the  legitimate  sphere  of 
their  control,  we  are  impressed  with  the  fact  that  they  were 
actuated  with  good  motives  and  controlled  by  good  common 
sense. 

The  practical  good  sense  of  Virginia's  first  lawmakers 
is  not  more  in  evidence  anywhere  than  in  their  legislation 
touching  intemperance.  They  put  the  onus  pi  blame  and 
responsibility  upon  the  man  who  drank  to  excess.  There 
is  in  this  an  elemental  congruity  that  appeals  to  one's 
sense  of  simple  and  unmixed  justice.  It  differs  widely  from 
modern  temperance  legislation  in  that  it  is  njow  sought  to 
place  the  responsibility  everywhere  except  upion  the  man 
who  permits  himself  to  become  debauched.  They  passed 
laws  to  the  effect  that  a  man  found  drunk,  for  the  first  of- 
fense should  be  reproved  in  private  by  the  minister ;  for  the 
second  offense  he  was  to  be  reproved  in  public ;  for  the  third 
offense  the  Governor  was  to  take  the  place  of  the  minister 
and  administer  reproof;  and  in  case  lof  a  fourth  offense,  the 
Governor  was  given  full  authority  to  inflict  such  punish- 
ment as  in  his  judgment  the  case  seemed  to  require.  In  the 
matter  of  temperance  they  sought  by  wise  legislation  to  in- 
sure the  purity  of  liquors,  enforcing  heavy  penalties  where 
these  stuffs  were  too  greatly  diluted  or  adulterated  by  the 
admixture  of  other  ingredients.  It  was  also  sought  to  protect 
the  man  disposed  to  run  up  his  credit  at  the  tavern,  by  pass- 
ing a  law  that  in  case  the  tavern  keeper  seemed  to  be  guilty 
of  too  great  encouragement  in  extending  his  credit,  that  under 


i4C)  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA. 

certain  conditions  and  after  certain  lapses  of  time  his  account 
would  be  worthless  before  the  law. 

The  Assembly  sought  among  its  first  acts  to  regulate  the 
matter  of  wearing  apparel,  and  in  this  legislation  there  is  alsio 
an  appeal  to  one's  sense  of  elemental  justice.  It  was  pro- 
vided that  every  man  should  be  assessed  to  support  the  church 
according  to  the  quality  of  clothes  he  wore.  If  he  were  un- 
married, according  to  his  own  apparel ;  if  married,  according 
not  only  to  those  of  his  own,  but  to  that  of  his  wife's  apparel 
ias  well.  There  seems  here  to  be  unusual  common  sense,  as 
it  appears  in  simple  justice  that  one  should  be  willing  to  con- 
tribute to  the  church  in  the  same  spirit  of  liberality  with 
which  one  conducts  his  own  private  and  domestic  affairs. 

The  legislation  pf  the  New  England  Puritans  is  often  cited 
&s  an  example  of  narrowness  and  intolerance.  Even  a  casual 
Btud}^  will  reveal  the  fact  that  the  work  of  the  lawmakers  in 
both  sections  really  did  not  differ  very  widely.  There  was 
the  same  interference  and  intolerance  in  religious  matters ; 
there  was  the  same  unproportionate  severity  in  the  enforce- 
ment of  penalties  for  what  in  our  day  seem  to  be  trivial  of- 
fenses ;  there  was  the  same  meddling  with  private  affairs  and 
habits  of  the  individual. 

This  first  Assembly  passed  a  law  concerning  swearing  in 
the  colony.  One  found  guilty  of  this  offense,  after  having 
been  three  times  admonished,  was  fined  five  shillings  for 
every  offense,  the  fine  going  into  the  treasury  of  the  church. 
All  persons  were  required  to  attend  divine  service  on  Sunday, 
the  men  being  required  to  come  with  their  firearms.  No 
other  service  except  that  conducted  by  a  minister  of  the 
Church  of  England  was  tolerated,  it  being  many  years  later 
before  other  forms  of  religious  services  were  permitted. 

The  laws  regarding  the  relation  of  the  settlers  to  the  In- 
dians were  in  great  detail,  and  sought  to  govern  every  phase 


THE  FIRST  AMERICAN  ASSEMBLY.  141 

of  contact  with  the  aborigines.  They  were  permitted  to  trade 
and  barter  with  the  Indians,  but  they  could  not  sell  them 
hoes,  dogs,  shot,  powder,  firearms,  or  other  implements  which 
might  accrue  to  the  advantage  of  the  Indian  in  case  lof  con- 
flict. If  shot,  powder  or  firearms  were  sold  to  them,  the 
penalty  for  such  refraction  of  the  law  was  death.  No  man 
was  permitted  to  go  into  the  Indian  country  and  remain 
longer  than  seven  days  without  a  formal  leave  of  absence 
from  the  Governor. 

However,  the  first  Assembly  showed  a  genuine  concern 
for  the  welfare  of  the  aborigines.  A  law  was  passed  looking 
to  the  education  and  Christianizing  of  the  Indians,  and  a 
bonus  was  offered  to  every  plantation  which  should  seek  to 
educate  and  to  convert  the  Indian  youth  to  the  Christian  re- 
ligion. 

Laws  were  passed  undertaking  to  regulate  the  economics 
of  the  settlement.  The  time  for  planting  com  and  mulberry 
trees,  the  making  iof  silk,  the  raising  of  hemp,  the  cultivation 
of  grapes  and  other  fruits,  the  control  of  tenants  and  runaway 
servants,  the  price  of  tobacco  and  its  use  as  a  current  coin 
of  the  realm,  were  all  matters  of  painstaking  legislation. 

The  Assembly  seemed  to  discharge  not  only  legislative 
functions,  but  certain  judicial  ones  as  well.  For  example, 
they  heard  the  complaint  of  Captain  William  Powell  against 
one  Thomas  Garnet,  a  servant,  and  found  him  guilty  of  ob- 
scene and  unbecoming  behavior,  and  had  him  nailed  by  the 
ears  to  a  pillory  for  four  days,  flogging  him  besides  on  each 
day.  Captain  Henry  Spellman,  by  vote  of  the  Assembly,  was 
degraded  from  his  title  as  captain  because  he  had  spoken  to 
the  old  Indian  chief,  Opechancannough,  in  a  disrespectful  and 
unbecoming  language  with  reference  to  the  Governor  of  the 
colony. 

Early  in  the  acts  of  the  Assembly  could  be  discovered 


142  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA. 

the  restless  spirit  that  reached  out  aforetime  for  emancipation 
from  the  control  of  the  mother  country.  One  of  the  most  re- 
markable, significant  and  prophetic  things  in  the  action  of 
this  Assembly  was  the  courage  with  which  they  ventured 
to  ask  that  they  might  have  the  right  to  pass  their  own  laws 
without  the  interference  and  supervision  on  the  part  of  the 
London  Company.  The  first  Assembly  passed  the  following 
significant  resolution : 

"The  General  Assembly  doth  humbly  beseeche  saide  treas- 
urer, counsell  and  company,  that  albeit  it  belongeth  to  them 
only  to  allow  or  abrogate  any  lawes  which  we  shall  here  make 
and  that  it  is  their  right  so  to  doe,  as  these  lawes  which  we 
have  nowe  brought  to  light,  to  passe  current  and  be  of  force 
till  suche  time  as  we  may  knowe,  and  further  pleasures  out  of 
England  in,  for  otherwise  this  people  (who  nowe  at  last  have 
gotten  the  rains  of  former  servitude  into  their  own  swindge) 
wpuld  in  short  time  grow  so  insolent  as  that  they  would  shake 
off  all  government  and  there  would  be  no  living  among  them. 
Our  next  humble  suite  is  that  the  saide  counsell  and  company 
would  be  pleased,  so  soon  as  they  shall  find  it  convenient,  to 
make  good  their  promise  set  them  at  the  conclusion  of  their 
commission  for  establishing  the  counsell  of  a  state  and  the 
General  Assembly,  namely,  that  they  will  give  us  the  power 
to  allow  or  disallow  all  their  orders  of  courts  as  His  Majesty 
hath  given  them  power  to  allow  or  reject  our  lawes." 

Here  indeed  is  the  ominous  suggestion  of  that  infinite 
•struggle,  the  glorious  consummation  of  which  was  emancipa- 
tion from  British  rule,  and  the  establishment  of  American 
independence. 

The  requests  that  they  be  granted  the  privilege  to  disal- 
low the  orders  of  the  London  Company  in  Virginia  must  have 
seemed  exceedingly  presumptuous  and  impertinent,  and  yet 
from  this  position  taken  at  the  outset,  to  be  sure  not  witl; 


THE  FIRST  AMERICAN  ASSEMBLY.  143 

any  very  great  definiteness  or  clearness,  the  Virginians  never 
departed.  As  early  as  1624  they  declared  that  the  "Governor 
shall  not  lay  any  tax  or  impositions  upon  the  colony,  their 
lands  or  commodities,  other  than  by  the  authority  of  the  Gen- 
eral Asseobly,  tp  be  levied  or  employed  as  the  said  Assem- 
bly shall  appoint."  These  are  almost  the  precise  words  used 
five  years  later  by  the  English  Parliament  in  its  petition  of 
rights  to  Charles  I.  The  same  principle  was  re-enacted  in 
1631,  ag-ain  in  1632,  again  in  1642,  and  still  again  in  1645,  ^^^ 
again  in  the  Articles  of  Agreement  of  1652  between  commis- 
sioners representing  the  Commonwealth  of  Engalnd  and 
Cromwell  and  the  "Grand  Assembly  of  the  Governor,  Coun- 
cill  and  Burgesses"  of  Virp-inia,  in  which  articles  are  found 
these  words :  "That  Virginia  shall  be  free  from  all  taxes,  cus- 
toms and  impositions  whatsoever,  and  none  to  be  imposed  on 
them  without  consent  of  the  Grand.  Assembly."  In  passing 
it  is  worthy  of  note  that  the  term  "General  Assembly"  was 
used  till  September,  1632,  after  which  the  term  "Grand  As- 
sembly" was  used  till  1680,  when  the  former  term  was  re- 
vived. It  was  also  about  this  time  that  the  General  Assembly 
came  to  be  composed  of  two  distinct  houses,  the  "Council" 
sitting  as  the  upper  house  and  the  "Burgesses"  as  a  lower 
house.  It  was  the  lower  house,  so  often  spoken  of  as  the 
"House  of  Burgesses,"  that  stood  so  firmly  for  the  rights  of 
the  colonists.  It  was  this  body  that  gave  Governor  Berkeley 
to  understand,  in  ways  that  could  not  be  misconstrued,  that 
no  taxes  whatever  could  be  raised  except  by  its  approval. 
This  claim  Virginia  never  surrendered,  and  when  the  Stamp 
Act  was  passed  in  1765,  Patrick  Henry  in  his  famous  Resolu- 
tions simply  reiterated  Virginia's  position  taken  so  many 
times  before,  when  he  declared  "that  the  General  Assembly 
of  this  colony  have  the  sole  right  and  power  to  lay  taxes  and 
impositions   upon  the   inhabitants   of  this   colony,   and  that 


144  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA'. 

every  attempt  to  vest  such  power  in  any  person  or  persons 
whatsoever  other  than  the  General  Assembly  aforesaid,  has 
a  manifest  tendency  to  destroy  British  as  well  as  American 
freedom." 

From  such  expressions  as  these  it  is  easy  tp  see  that  the 
'establishment  of  the  first  General  Assembly  was  a  vital  and 
an  important  event  in  the  history  of  Virginia  and  of  America. 
Its  establishment  must  be  regarded  as  one  of  the  results  of 
the  struggle  extending  through  many  years  in  England  for 
piopular  rights.  In  the  latter  years  of  its  existence  the 
courts  of  the  London  Company  came  to  be  the  arena  in 
which  were  discussed  with  increasing  boldness  and  frank- 
"ness  the  divine  rights  of  Kings.  In  those  years  there  was 
^n  undisguised  and  persistent  hatred  of  the  Stuart  King. 
The  Liberal  party  in  Parliament,  always  at  deadly  conflict 
v.'ith  James  I.,  had  many  representatives  in  the  membership 
and  control  of  the  London  Company,  and  when  their  voices 
were  stifled  in  Parliament  they  found  the  courts  of  the  Lon- 
don Company  and  the  general  atmosphere  of  the  company's 
life  most  congenial  and  most  favorable  to  free  and  frank 
utterance.  This  condition  of  things  was  the  real  reason  why 
the  charter  was  taken  from  the  London  Company,  but  the 
lines  of  battle  had  been  already  drawn,  and  while  the  London 
Company  was  hindered  for  a  while  in  this  splendid  struggle 
for  liberal  principles,  it  had  succeeded  in  establishing  in  Vir- 
ginia, under  new  and  favorable  conditions,  an  organization 
that  was  destined  to  continue  the  struggle  and  ultimately  to 
win  the  great  battle  for  popular  rights.  The  House  of  Bur- 
gesses fought  against  the  autocratic  rule  of  the  Governors, 
as  the  royal  representatives  in  the  colony,  as  seen  in  its  atti- 
tude towards  Berkeley,  Spotswood  and  Culpeper.  The  spirit 
of  this  body  caused  the  people  to  drive  from  the  colony  Dun- 
more,  the  last  English  Governor  of  Virginia. 


THE  FIRST  AMERICAN  ASSEMBLY.  145 

It  will  be  worth  while  to  remember  that  the  beginnings 
of  American  legislation  and  the  first  declaration  of  the  rights 
of  colonists  to  govern  themselves  were  made  before  there  was 
any  other  English  settlement  on  American  shores.  It  was 
from  the  loyal  Jamestown  settlement  that  there  came  first  the 
crystallization  of  the  spirit  of  the  eighteenth  century  that 
demanded  the  right  of  self-government  to  all  people. 


CHAPTER  XI. 
TOBACCO. 

We  may  say  as  much  as  we  please  about  J'ohn  Smith  and 
Piocahontas  being  the  saviors  of  the  Virginia  Colony;  it  re- 
mains, however,  a  most  unromantic  fact  that  it  was  plain 
for  the  Ciolony  to  have  been  maintained  long  enough  to  have 
taken  permanent  rootage  on  the  new  continent.  There  was 
made  the  colony  possible.  But  for  the  finding  of  a  paying 
Mr.  John  Rolfe  and  the  noxious  or  fragrant  Indian  weed  (the 
adjective  depending  upon  one's  personal  taste)  that  really 
commercial  commodity  it  would  have  been  quite  impossible 
scarcely  a  phase  of  the  colonial  life  but  that  into*  it  tobacco 
entered  most  vitally.  It  was  the  determining  factor  in  well- 
nigh  every  departure  and  exigency  of  the  life  of  the  colony. 
A  Virginia  writer,  with  very  good  ground,  as  we  shall  later 
see,  has  declared  "that  a  true  history  of  tobacco  would  be  the 
history  of  English  and  American  liberty."  This  seems  an 
easy  and  a  broad  statement.  It  will  be  found,  however,  on  in- 
vestigation, to  be  more  nearly  true  than  one  is  at  first  dis- 
posed to  allow,  for  it  is  the  economic  factor  that  mainly  de- 
termines forms  of  social  and  governmental  life. 

It  was  the  value  of  tobacco  that  first  drew  from  Eng- 
land to  Virginia  the  most  substantial  of  its  early  settlers. 
Until  tobacco  was  found  to  be  a  commercial  commodity  of 
value,  Virginia  really  offered  no  substantial  inducement  to 
sober-thinking  people  to  come  to  its  shores.  The  level-headed 
and  thoughtful  man  whose  chief  ambition  was  to  mend  and 

146 


TOBACCO.  14? 

increase  his  fortune  took  little  interest  in  the  golden  vagaries 
that  allured  the  speculative  and  shiftless  population.  He  was 
willing  to  pursue  slower  methods  and  to  endure  patient  labor 
if  his  fortune  might  only  be  gradually  augmented.  When  it 
was  practically  demonstrated  that  there  was  great  profit  in 
raising  and  marketing  tobacco,  a  new  interest  was  created  in 
the  Virginia  experiment.  For  the  first  time  the  EngHsh  yeo- 
men were  enlisted  in  the  enterprise  and  were  tempted  to  cast 
their  lots  with  the  Virginia  colonists.  Hitherto  the  character 
of  the  population  coming  to  Virginia  had  been  mainly  drawn 
from  the  top  and  from  the  bottom  of  England's  population. 
Those  at  the  top  came  with  the  expectation  of  finding  im- 
mediately large  fortunes  in  the  discovery  of  gold  and  silver. 
They  never  had  any  serious  idea  of  settling  permanently  on 
the  American  shores.  It  was  their  purpose,  to  be  sure,  to 
establish  a  permanent  colony  in  Virginia,  but  it  can  scarcely 
be  claimed  that  many  of  them  ever  seriously  cherished  the 
idea  of  remaining  themselves  as  permanent  residents  in  Vir- 
ginia. The  other  class  scarcely  knew  why  they  came.  They 
had  no  more  idea  than  their  superiors  of  remaining  perma- 
nently in  America.  The  same  dream  that  actuated  the  lead- 
ers of  the  movement  filtered  down  to  the  lowest  class,  where 
there  was  entertained  the  same  hopes  of  the  Eldorado.  When, 
however,  it  became  a  fact  that  by  the  cultivation  of  tobacco 
permanent  homes  might  be  secured  and  possibly  large  for- 
tunes be  realized,  from  the  top,  the  bottom  and  the  middle 
classes  there  began  to  appear  those  who  planned  seriously  to 
establish  themselves  permanently  in  the  new  colony.  Up  to 
this  time  the  bulk  of  the  settlers  had  no  individual  or  per- 
sonal resource  at  their  command  except  in  the  way  of  labor 
and  service.  No  capital  was  introduced  into  the  colony  ex- 
cept that  which  was  held  and  furnished  by  the  London  Com- 
pany.    But  when  it  became  clear  that  there  was  a  chance 


148  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA. 

for  profitable  investment  in  the  cultivation  of  tobacco,  men 
came  from  En^^land  who  had  accumulated,  to  a  measure  at 
least,  small  fortunes  and  were  willing-  to  venture  them  in 
the  new  experiment,  and  to  make  permanent  homes  in  Vir- 
fjinia.  The  results  of  this  new  departure  were  speedily  dis- 
covered in  the  conduct  of  the  affairs  of  the  colony.  Ko 
longer  excited  by  the  desire  of  making  quick  fortunes  in  the 
discovery  of  g-old  or  silver,  the  colonists  addressed  them- 
selves intelligently  and  seriously  to  the  ordering  of  all  the 
affairs  of  the  colony  according  to  wise  business  methods. 

In  the  economy  of  the  colony  tobacco  came  to  be  the 
standard  of  values,  and  its  yellow  leaf  was  recognized  as  the 
current  coin  of  the  realm.  A  pound  of  tobacco  became  the 
imit  of  value.  The  prices  of  labor  and  all  commodities  were 
.given  as  so  many  pounds  of  tobacco.  All  tributes  and  taxes 
were  paid  in  tobacco.  All  salaries  were  paid  in  the  same 
way,  and  by  the  payment  of  tobacco  even  the  living's  of  the 
cler^men  were  secured.  When  maidens  were  brought  over 
in  1619  to  be  the  wives  of  the  bachelors  of  the  settlement., 
they  were  paid  for  in  tobacco.  It  is  easy  to  see  how,  in 
£uch  fluctuations  as  were  inevitable  in  a  currency  like  this, 
distress  was  sure  to  come  sooner  or  later.  It  was  quite  im- 
possible to  make  a  stable  currency  out  of  a  commodity  sub- 
ject to  so  many  changes  of  one  sort  and  another.  It  was  al- 
together impossible  so  to  regulate  and  keep  balanced  the 
supply  and  the  demand  as  to  insure  stability  and  consistency. 
It  is  easily  to  be  seen,  therefore,  how  much  of  the  distress 
that  came  to  the  colonists  in  their  economic  affairs  grew  out 
of  the  instability  of  the  commodity  which  had  come  into  use 
as  the  currency  of  the  realm.  Only  a  little  money  ever  found 
its  way  into  the  colony.  The  balances  between  the  tobacco 
g^rower  in  America  and  the  commission  merchant  in  England 
was  frequently  in  favor  of  the  English  merchant,  so  that  tha 


TOBACCO.  149 

amount  pf  money  brouo^ht  from  Eng^land  was  meag^erly  small. 
And  even  this  small  amount  could  not  longf  endure  the  com- 
petition of  so  cheap  and  uncertain  a  money  as  tobacco,  and 
was  soon  hurried  away  to  other  places  and  markets  where 
in  a  more  cong-enial  atmosphere  it  had  a  better  chance  for 
use  and  service. 

It  was  the  cultivation  of  tobacco  that  determined  the 
peculiar  system  of  labor  under  which  the  colony  lived  and 
thrived,  and  which  fastened  upon  the  American  people  the 
S3^stem  of  African  slavery.  The  form  of  labor  known  as  the 
"indenture  service"  and  the  "redemptionists"  is  to  be  traced 
to  the  increasing^  demand  for  labor  in  the  cultivation  of  to- 
bacco. In  the  northern  colonies  the  conditions  were  such 
as  not  to  require  the  same  sort  of  service  and  labor.  There 
were  no  larg'e  tracts  of  land  to  be  cleared  and  cultivated ;  so 
among  the  northern  colonies  there  was  a  demand  only  for 
domestic  service  and  such  labor  as  was  incident  to  the  cul- 
tivation of  smaller  and  more  familiar  crops,  and  wherever 
African  slavery  was  maintained  it  was  only  in  the  most  de- 
sultory^ fashion  and  employed  mainly  for  domestic  purposes. 
Hence  the  grades  of  society  were  not  nearly  so  plainly  marked 
m  the  northern  colonies  as  they  were  in  the  southern  colo- 
nies. The  northern  colonies  presented  and  preserved  a  much 
more  homogeneous  society.  The  seeming-  aristocracy  of  the 
South  grew  from  this  very  condition  of  affairs.  From  the 
nature  of  the  case  there  was  bound  to  be  a  class  of  masters 
and  a  class  of  servants  or  slaves. 

The  cultivation  of  tobacco  determined  the  plantation 
life  by  which  the  Virginia  Colony  was  distinguished.  It 
fixed  the  life  of  the  colonists  as  being  rural  rather  than  urban, 
a  feature  which  distinguished  it,  especially,  from  the  settle- 
ments in  New  England.  On  this  account  the  basis  of  repre- 
sentation   in  the   General  Assembly  was  fixed  as  from  the 


150  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA. 

county  rather  than  from  the  towns.  In  spite  of  vigoroiu^ 
and  repeated  efforts  on  the  part  of  the  General  Assembly, 
this  state  of  thing-s  continued.  It  was  earnestly  endeavpred 
time  and  ag^ain  to  make  the  towns  the  centres  of  life.  The 
demand  for  fresh  land  from  year  to  year  made  it  necessary 
that  large  tracts  of  land  should  be  brought  under  cultiva- 
tion. These  great  plantations  thus  established  were  in  them- 
selves, 30  to  speak,  separate  jurisdictions  and  municipalities. 
Each  plantation  was  sufficient  unto  itself  in  all  things  except 
those  that  were  imported  from  the  old  country.  They  had 
their  own  industries  necessary  to  the  manufacture  of  all  the 
things  required  for  the  life  of  the  plantation.  Most  of  them 
had  their  own  wharves,  at  which  vessels  from  England  landed 
and  delivered  their  freight,  and  from  which  the  returning 
cargoes  were  loaded.  In  the  effort  spoken  of  above  to  bring 
life  into  the  cities,  it  w^as  again  and  again  undertaken  to 
force  the  settlers  to  receive  their  goods  and  ship  their  to- 
bacco at  towns  designated  by  the  authorities.  This  was  never 
made  successful.  The  owners  of  the  different  plantations 
insisted  on  having  their  own  ports  of  entry.  It  is  to  the  man- 
agement of  these  great  plantations  that  is  due  the  faculty  of 
leadership  and  government  so  early  manifested  by  the  Vir- 
ginia colonists.  The  estates  were  very  large,  and  the  labor 
required  in  maintaining  them  brought  to  each  plantation 
large  numbers  of  people  with  all  the  necessities  incident  to  a 
community  so  varied  in  capacities  and  wants.  To  govern 
these  plantations,  therefore,  called  into  exercise  to  a  very 
high  degree  the  faculty  of  administration,  and  fior  this  form 
of  life  the  cultivation  of  tobacco  must  he  held  responsible. 

One  of  the  most  interesting  and  curious  phases  of 
the  influence  lof  tobacco  cultivation  is  to  be  seen  in  the  part 
tt  played  in  furthering  the  cause  of  religious  liberty.  In  1755, 
when  a  short  crop  of  tobacco  had  suddenly   enhanced  the 


TOBACCO.  151 

prices  of  that  commodity,  the  Assembly  passed  an  act  au- 
thorizing the  payment  of  all  tobacco  debts  in  money  at  two- 
pence per  pound.  This  was  the  rate  established  by  long 
usage.  Three  years  after  its  first  enactment  this  act  was 
renewed.  The  salaries  of  the  clergymen  of  the  Church  oi 
England  were  paid  in  tobacco,  and  if  this  law  should  be  en- 
forced they  would  be  great  losers  thereby.  There  were  about 
sixty-five  of  these  clerical  gentlemen,  and  naturally  enough 
they  were  thrown  into  a  great  state  of  agitation  over  the 
proposed  enforcement  of  this  law.  They  made  numerous 
speeches  and  circulated  numerous  pamphlets,  and  finally  sent 
an  appeal  to  England,  and  with  the  aid  of  Sherlock,  Bishop 
of  London,  they  succeeded  in  procuring  an  order  from  the 
Council  that  the  act  be  declared  void.  Immediately  suits 
were  brought  on  the  part  of  the  clergvmen  to  recover  the 
difference  between  twopence  per  pound  in  the  depreciated  cur- 
rency and  the  value  of  the  tobacco  to  which,  by  the  law,  they 
were  entitled.  It  was  in  the  defense  of  one  of  these  suits 
against  the  clergymen  that  Patrick  Henry,  in  1763,  displayed 
for  the  first  time  his  marvelous  eloquence,  and  although  the 
law  was  plainly  against  him,  he  really  won  the  suit,  as  the 
clergy  were  awarded  only  one  penny  damages.  This  is  a 
part  of  the  story  of  the  struggle  for  religious  liberty,  and  it 
took  its  first  concrete  expression  in  forcing  upon  the  clergy 
cf  the  Established  Church  of  Virginia  a  depreciated  currency 
instead  of  tobacco,  to  which  they  were  plainly  enough  en- 
titled. So  to  speak,  therefore,  tobacco  was  the  entering 
wedge  of  the  final  and  complete  separation  of  church  and 
state  soon  to  take  place,  not  only  in  Virginia,  but  through- 
cut  the  United  States. 

Of  political  significance  also  was  the  question  of  the 
tobacco  trade.  One  can  but  recall  that  when  Charles  I. 
came  to  the  throne  of  England  he  hoped  to  perpetuate  the 


152  COLONIAL   VIRGINIA. 

policy  of  his  father,  King  James  I.,  and  to  rule  England  his 
own  way,  and,  if  necessary,  without  parliamentary  sanction. 
Unfortunately  for  him,  on  coming  to  the  throne  he  found 
embodied  in  the  English  mind  the  principle  of  no  taxation 
without  representation,  and  in  order  to  secure  money  he  had 
to  tolerate  Parliament.  When  James  I.  died,  the  colonists 
sent  at  once  a  commission,  headed  by  Governor  Yeardley, 
to  assure  the  new  King  of  their  allegiance  and  loyalty,  and  to 
express  to  him  their  very  warm  desire  that  the  policies  which 
they  had  been  allowed  to  pursue  in  the  latter  part  of  the 
reign  of  his  illustrious  father  he  would  graciously  allow 
them  to  continue.  A  Parliament  in  Virginia  was  quite  a 
different  thing  from  a  Parliament  in  England,  and  if  he 
might  secure  from  the  Virginia  Parliament  what  he  could 
have  only  by  assembling  the  English  Parliament  and  begging 
?t  its  hands,  he  would  have  fallen  upon  a  most  satisfying 
expedient.  It  occurred  to  him  that  if  the  tobacco  trade  might 
be  put  entirely  into  the  hands  of  the  crown  he  might  be  able 
to  secure  such  tributes  and  taxes  as  would  make  him  vir- 
tually independent  of  the  English  Parliament,  and  so  he  was 
disposed  to  look  kindly  upon  the  overtures  from  Vir- 
ginia made  by  its  commissioners.  He  made,  therefore, 
an  exceedingly  gracious  and  favorable  response  to  the  over- 
tures of  the  Virginia  colonists,  and  recognized  the  Assembly, 
addressing  it  as  "our  trusty  and  well-beloved  Burgesses  of 
the  Grand  Assembly  of  Virginia."  Thus  he  recognized  of- 
ficially the  existence  and  authority  of  the  Parliament  in  Vir- 
ginia. James  I.  had  effected  an  arrangement  with  the  Lon- 
don Company  by  which  there  was  to  be  imported  into  Eng- 
land from  Virginia  not  more  than  sixty  thousand  pounds  of 
tobacco  annually,  and  from  the  Spanish  colonies  not  more 
than  forty  thousand  pounds.  In  his  desire  to  win  the  favor 
of  the  Virginia  colonists  Charles  I.  prohibited  all   importa- 


TOBACCO.  153 

tions  to  England  from  Spain,  so  that  Virginia  and  the  Ber- 
muda Islands  had  a  monopoly  of  the  English  tobacco  trade. 
Curiously  enough  Charles  I.  failed  to  realize  his  expectations 
in  this  point.  In  one  way  or  another  he  failed  to  get  the 
tobacco  trade  under  the  control  of  the  crown.  Nevertheless, 
it  remains  true  that  the  tobacco  trade  was  the  factor  that  in- 
fluenced King  Charles  I.  to  recognize  the  existence  of  the 
General  Assembly  of  the  Colony  of  Virginia. 

Furthermore,  in  the  agitations  that  waged  about  tobacco 
can  be  discovered  those  premonitory  and  preliminary  struggles 
that  resulted  in  Bacon's  Rebellion  and  other  lesser  eruptions, 
and  finally  in  the  great  War  of  Independence.  The  discontent 
and  distress  among  the  tobacco  growers  was  not,  indeed,  the 
single  cause  of  Bacon's  Rebellion,  but  that  it  was  a  most 
lively  co-operating  cause  there  can  be  no  doubt  at  all. 

The  widespread  distress  caused  by  the  enforcement  of 
the  navigation  laws  was  the  cause  of  universal  discontent 
that  might  easily  have  been  inflamed  into  most  serious  out- 
breaks but  for  the  conservative  spirit  of  loyalty  to  the  old 
country.  The  first  of  these  navigation  acts  was  passed  in 
1651.  It  forbade  the  bringing  of  goods  into  England  except 
in  English  ships  or  in  ships  built  by  the  owners  of  the  goods. 
This  act  was  not  intended  to  injure  the  trade  of  the  colonists, 
but  was  aimed  at  Holland,  whose  competition  for  trade  with 
England  was  becoming  exceedingly  uncomfortable;  and  it 
was  thought  that  if  Holland  were  deprived  of  the  American 
tobacco  trade,  she  would  be  eliminated  as  a  rival  in  the  sale 
of  goods  to  the  American  colonists.  It  was  still  further 
hoped  that  Holland  would  be  compelled,  instead  of  buying 
*ier  tobacco  from  America,  to  buy  it  from  English  merchants 
at  their  own  price.  In  this  the  English  people  were  griev- 
ously disappointed,  because  the  long-headed  Hollanders  hit 
upon  the  scheme  of  growing  their  tobacco  in  the  East  Indies 
and  importing  it  therefrom. 


154  COLONIAL   VIRGINIA. 

The  application  of  the  navigation  act  to  the  American 
colonists  meant  that  the  colonists  could  trade  only  with  Eng- 
land, and  could  use  only  English  ships.  Fortunately,  Crom- 
well did  Uiot  put  himself  at  any  pains  to  insist  upon  a  strict 
enforcement  of  this  act,  but  when  Charles  II.  came  to  the 
throne  he  sought  not  only  to  enforce  the  first  act,  but  to 
issue  another  act  much  more  far-reaching  in  its  injurious  ef- 
fects upon  the  American  colonists.  This  act  required  not 
only  that  all  gioods  carried  to  and  from  England  should  be 
iin  English  vessels,  but  that  all  commodities  produced  in 
America  should  be  exported  to  England  and  the  colonies  of 
England  alone,  thus  closing  to  the  Americans  every  other 
market  for  the  sale  of  products,  and  presenting  only  a  single 
market  from  which  products  were  to  be  exchanged.  The 
result  was  that  Englishmen  bought  tobacco  on  their  own 
terms  and  sold  their  English  goods  at  their  own  price,  every 
sort  of  competition  being  eliminated  by  the  operation  of  the 
navigation  laws.  Numerous  and  vigorous  protests  went  up 
from  may  sources,  but  all  were  futile.  The  inevitable  result 
was  the  depreciation  in  the  price  of  tobacco.  The  Virginians 
sought  in  many  ways  to  remedy  the  evil,  but  were  never  able 
to  do  so.  It  was  sought  from  time  to  time  to  curtail  the 
crops,  and  at  one  time  to  prevent  the  raising  of  any  crop  at 
all.  But  it  was  impossible  to  get  perfect  agreement  among 
the  planters  and  to  secure  the  co-operation  of  the  tobacco 
growers  of  Maryland  and  Carolina. 

In  1664  the  tobacco  crop  of  Virginia  was  worth  less  than 
three  pounds  and  fifteen  shillings  to  each  person.  In  1667 
the  price  of  tobacco  fell  to  one  halfpenny  per  pound.  Under 
such  conditions  of  things  it  was  quite  impossible  for  the 
colonists  to  maintain  loyal  and  uncomplaining  relations  with 
the  old  country,  and  out  of  this  universal  discontent  be- 
gan   those    eruptions    that    finally    resulted    in    the    War   of 


rroBAcco.  155 

Independence.  Mr.  Bruce  quotes  from  Thomas  Ludwell, 
writing  to  Lord  Bericeley  in  London,  "that  there  were 
but  three  influences  restraining  the  smaller  land  owners 
in  Virginia  from  rising  in  rebellion,  namely:  faith  in  the 
mercy  of  God,  loyalty  to  the  King,  and  affection  for  the  gov- 
ernment." There  is  an  account  of  a  meeting  held  by  certain 
citizens  of  Surr}',  protesting  against  the  condition  of  things 
and  declaring  their  purpose  to  refuse  payment  of  taxes.  The 
ringleaders  in  this  meeting  were  fined,  but  afterwards  had 
their  fines  remitted,  with  the  understanding  that  they  were 
to  show  penitence  for  their  wrongdoing  and  to  pay  the 
court  charges.  This  latter,  perhaps,  they  were  forced  into, 
but  the  former  we  are  sure  never  came  about. 

It  is  easy  to  see  how  the  seeds  of  the  Revolution  were  to 
be  found  in  this  discontentment  brought  about  by  the  en- 
forcement of  these  navigation  laws  and  the  resulting  low 
prices  of  tobacco.  So  it  was  among  the  Virginia  tobacco 
growers  that  one  finds  those  ea.rly  protests  which  gathered 
energy  and  volume  with  every  repetition,  and  which  resulted 
.finally  in  the  splendid  Declaration  of  American  Independence. 

These  considerations  abundantly  vindicate  the  above 
statement  from  Mr.  Moncure  Conway  that  the  tobacco  in- 
dustry was  so  thoroughly  a  part  of  the  social  and  political 
life  of  the  colonists  of  the  seventeenth  century  that  its  his- 
tory would  involve  the  history  of  English  and  American  lib- 
erty. Seldom  has  ever  a  single  commodity  been  so  deter- 
mininp-  a  far.tnr  in  the  life  'of  a  people. 

Tobacco  was,  apparently,  not  indigenous  to  Virginia,  and 
must  in  some  way  have  been  transported  from  more  tropical 
climes.  Mr.  Bruce,  in  his  "Economic  History  of  Virginia,' 
calls  attention  to  the  fact  that  in  spite  of  its  long  presence 
and  continued  cultivation  in  Virginia,  it  is  never  found  as  a 
\oluntary  growth. 


156  COLONIAL   VIRGINIA. 

One  of  the  mythological  traditions  concerning  its  origin  13 
the  story  of  a  Mussulman  prophet  who  found  a  serpent  one 
day  in  a  frozen  state.  This  serpent  he  pressed  to  his  bosom 
and  warmed  it  back  to  life.  At  once  his  serpentine  majesty 
gave  warning  that,  according  to  the  rules  governing  the  re- 
lations existing  between  his  family  and  the  human  kind,  he 
would  be  obliged  to  bite  him.  The  prophet  protested  that 
if  he  were  to  do  so  it  would  be  a  piece  of  very  base  ingrati- 
tude. The  serpent  replied  that  he  was  exceedingly  sorry,  but 
that  he  had  sworn  by  Allah  to  bite  him'.  That  being  the  case, 
the  prophet  declared  that  there  was  nothing  else  to  be  done 
than  for  him  to  be  bitten ;  that  an  oath  made  to  Allah  must 
be  kept  at  all  costs;  so  he  presented  his  hand  to  the  snake, 
who  immediately  pierced  it  with  his  fangs.  At  once  the  wise 
and  merciful  prophet  with  his  mouth  sucked  the  poison  from 
his  finger  and  spat  it  upon  the  ground.  Immediately  there 
sprang  up  in  the  place  the  tobacco  plant,  which  holds  in  it 
the  poison  of  the  snake  and  the  soothing  mercy  of  the  pro- 
phet. 

Among  the  Indians  the  weed  was  held  in  very  high  es- 
teem, and  was  regarded  as  having  many  mysterious  and  ef- 
ficacious virtues.  It  was  used  in  many  of  their  religious  ob- 
servances. If  a  coming  storm  was  to  be  averted,  the  dust  of 
tobacco  was  thrown  to  the  winds.  If  a  turbulent  sea  was  to 
be  quieted,  its  dust  was  thrown  upon  the  waves.  If  for  any 
great  disaster  the  gods  were  to  be  appeased  and  satisfied, 
there  was  an  oblation  performed  in  the  shape  of  tobacco  dust. 
If  there  were  special  grounds  for  great  thanksgiving,  tobacco 
dust  was  cast  with  generous  hands  toward  the  skies.  The 
pipe  was  the  symbol  of  kindly  and  hospitable  relations.  The 
first  offer  of  hospitality  was  in  the  passing  of  a  pipe  of  peace 
from  the  mouth  of  the  chief  to  his  guests,  and  so  on  descend- 
ing from  greater  to  lesser  members  of  the  group  or  tribe.     On 


TOBACCO.  157 

one  of  the  first  explorino-  expeditions  the  settlers  discovered 
upon  the  shores  of  the  river  the  stalwart  form  of  the  Indian 
chief,  bearing^  in  one  hand  his  bow  and  arrows,  and  holding  in 
the  other  the  pipe,  by  this  posture  indicating-  his  entire  will- 
ingness to  give  either  war  or  free  hospitality.  When  Smith 
first  went  among  the  Rappahannocks,  at  one  point  of  his 
journey  he  w^as  met  by  four  Indian  chiefs  carrying  the  pipe 
of  peace  and  likewise  the  bow  and  arrows,  thus  declaring  their 
disposition  for  either  war  or  peace. 

While  there  is  a  record  made  of  the  method  that  the  In- 
dians emplo3'ed  in  the  cultivation  of  corn  and  other  products 
of  the  field,  there  is  no  account  of  the  method  of  the  planting 
and  cultivation  of  tobacco  employed  by  the  aborigines.  It  was 
usually  cultivated  in  patches  of  ground  near  their  wigwams. 
The  tobacco  grown  by  them  was  rather  stunted,  both  in  length 
of  stalk  and  size  of  leaf,  as  compared  to  the  tobacco  grown  in 
Spain.  It  seems  that  they  allowed  each  stalk  to  come  to  seed, 
a  method  which  is  eschewed  by  the  more  successful  grower 
of  tobacco.  The  tobacco  was  cured  either  by  the  warmth  of 
the  sun  or  by  the  heat  of  fire,  the  Indians  adopting  either 
method  as  exigency  might  seem  to  require.  The  settlers  first 
cured  tobacco  in  bulk,  but  about  1620  they  put  it  on  sticks 
much  after  the  modern  fashion. 

Tobacco  was  not  cultivated  any  more  largely  among  the 
Indians  than  seemed  to  be  necessary  for  the  supply  of  the 
wants  of  the  tribes.  It  does  not  appear  to  have  been  an 
article  of  commerce  among  them.  It  is  said  that  while  che 
Indians  never  gave  over  the  cultivation  of  corn,  even  after 
the  settlers  were  growing  superabundant  harvests  of  it, 
they  did  quit  the  cultivation  of  tobacco  when  the  white  set- 
tlers began  to  cultivate  it  to  any  large  extent,  evidently  es- 
teeming that  it  was  cheaper  thus  to  procure  it  or  that  the 
tobacco  grown  by  the  white  settlers  was  superior  in  quality 


iS8  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA. 

to  that  which  they  had  been  used.  It  was  used  by  them  as 
a  stimulant  only  in  smoking,  and  was  never  thought  to  be  fit 
for  chewing.  The  pipes  in  which  it  was  smoked  were  usually 
made  of  clay  or  of  shell.  Smith  describes  the  pipe  stems 
used  by  the  stalwart  Susquehannas  as  being  very  long,  heavy 
and  elaborately  carved;  so  heavy.  Indeed,  that  a  pipe  stem 
could  easily  be  wielded  as  an  instrument  of  death. 

The  first  mention  by  a  European  of  the  Indian  weed  is 
in  the  diary  of  Columbus,  bearing  the  date  of  November  20, 
1492.  Soon  after  this  tobacco  cultivation  was  introduced  into 
the  Spanish  Peninsula,  and  for  a  long  time  Spain  furnished 
the  tobacco  that  was  carried  into  England.  In  about  1560 
it  was  carried  over  into  France  by  a  man  who  was  ambassador 
at  Lisbon,  named  Jean  Nicot.  Hence  the  origin  of  the  word 
liicotine. 

On  the  return  of  the  settlers  sent  out  by  Lord  Raleigh 
under  Lane  in  1586,  some  tobacco  was  brought  into  England 
?.nd  introduced  into  conspicuous  social  centres,  and  early  in 
the  seventeenth  century  it  was  becoming  quite  fashionable  to 
smoke.  Pope  Urban  VIII.  thought  the  innovation  so  serious 
and  harmful  as  to  demand  an  official  expression  and  con- 
demnation from  him,  so  he  issued  a  bull  against  its  use,  and 
King  James  condemned  so  the  use  of  tobacco  that  he  wrote 
his  now  famous  "Counterblast." 

The  cultivation  of  tobacco  by  the  English  in  Virginia  be- 
gan at  the  instigation  and  with  the  example  of  John  Rolfs 
in  1612.  It  is  said  that  John  Rolfe  himself  was  very  fond  of 
the  weed,  and  began  its  cultivation  in  a  small  way  simply  to 
supply  his  own  individual  wants.  The  success  with  which 
he  was  rewarded  suggested  to  him  the  possibility  of  the  colo- 
nists finding  at  last  a  product  that  might  be  of  commercial 
use.  Hitherto  the  exportations  of  the  colony  had  been  of  a 
very  indefinite  and  irregular  sort,  consisting  mainly  of  sucH 


TOBACCO.  159 

thingfs  as  cedar,  sassafras  and  clapboards.  But  the  demand 
for  thing^s  of  this  sort  was  not  great  enough  to  secure  any- 
thing like  a  permanent  commerce.  Governor  Dale  watched 
with  his  sagacious  eye  the  experiment  of  John  Rolfe,  and  was 
quick  to  perceive  the  success  of  the  experiment  and  to  take 
advantage  of  it.  With  remarkable  prudence,  however,  he  took 
great  pains  to  see  that  foodstuffs  were  first  produced,  and 
only  when  a  man  had  planted  three  acres  of  corn  was  he  per- 
mitted to  set  one  acre  in  tobacco.  If  such  wisdom  could  have 
prevailed  in  the  years  that  were  to  follow,  in  this  particular 
matter,  it  would  have  been  greatly  to  the  advantage  of  the 
colonists.  When  Governor  Yeardley,  in  1616,  succeeded  Gov- 
ernor Dale,  he  found  the  cultivation  of  tobacco  fairly  estab- 
lished, and  from  this  time  on  it  became  the  recognized  staple 
of  the  colony.  Thus  Virginia  inaugurated  the  first  inter- 
change of  commodities  between  the  old  country  and  the  new 
that  was  really  entitled  to  be  dignified  with  the  name  of  com- 
merce. 

The  cultivation  of  tobacco  progressed  by  great  leaps  and 
bounds,  going  from  a  few  thousand  pounds  into  themillions 
before  the  Revolution  of  1776.  In  1619  twenty  thousand 
pounds  were  exported  to  England.  In  1620  the  amount  of 
exportation  was  doubled,  and  the  increase  was  steady  until 
1628,  when  it  amounted  to  five  hundred  thousand  pounds. 
Eleven  years  later  it  had  grown  to  the  enormous  proportion 
of  one  million  five  hundred  thousand  pounds,  and  with  slight 
ui-dulations  the  exportation  continued  in  growth  until  I745» 
when  it  reached  thirty-eight  million  pounds,  and  in  1753  it 
amounted  to  fifty-three  million  pounds.  These  statistics  con- 
tain not  only  the  story  of  the  most  romantic  prosperity  and 
of  depression  and  disasters,  but  also  the  story  of  great  reli- 
gious, social  and  political  struggles.  Into  these  old  and  dry 
figures  can  therefore  be  read  the  history  of  the  joys  and  sor- 


i6b  COLONIAL   VIRGINIA? 

rows,  successes  and  failures,  and  the  strug^gles  of  nearly  one 
hundred  years. 

One  of  the  marvelous  facts  of  history  is  the  rapidity  with 
which  the  use  of  tobacco  spread  throughout  England  in  the 
seventeenth  century.  It  became  a  most  violent  and  costly 
fad  in  all  conditions  of  English  society.  Rich  and  poor,  old 
and  young,  male  and  female,  gave  themselves  with  strange 
avidity  to  the  use  of  the  weed. 

Lord  Disraeli  defends  the  "Counterblast"  of  James  I.  as 
being  an  effort  of  a  seriously-minded  monarch  to  save  his 
people  from  a  vicious  and  destructive  habit.  He  declared 
that  James  I.  "saw  great  families  ruined  by  the  epidemic 
madness,  and  sacrificed  all  the  revenues  which  the  crown 
might  derive  from  it  in  order  to  assist  in  its  suppression." 

Tobacco  shops,  where  men  were  allowed  to  assemble  for 
^he  use  of  the  weed,  both  in  smoking  and  chewing,  were  es- 
tablished in  numerous  places  for  the  convenience  of  the  pub- 
lic. These  shops  were  described  in  a  verse  by  an  unnamed 
poet  in  a  way  like  the  following: 

"In  a  tobacco  shop,  resembling  hell 
(Fire,  stink  and  smoke  must  be  where  devils  dwell). 
He  sita;  you  cannot  see  his  face  for  vapor, 
Offering  to  Pluto  with  a  tallow  taper." 

A  French  traveler,  in  1672,  writing  concerning  the  v/ide- 
spread  use  of  tobacco,  said  that  "it  was  the  custom  when  the 
children  went  to  school  to  carry  in  their  satchels  with  their 
books  a  pipe  and  tobacco,  which  their  mothers  took  care  to 
fill  early  in  the  morning,  it  serving  them  instead  of  the  break- 
fast; and  at  the  accustomed  hour  every  one  laid  aside  his 
book  to  light  his  pipe,  and  the  master  smoked  with  them, 
teaching  them  how  to  hold  their  pipes  and  how  to  draw  in 
the  smoke,  thus  accustoming  them  to  it  from  their  youth, 
believing  it  absolutely  necessary  for  a  man's  health." 


TOBACCO.  i6i 

A  Mr.  Butler,  in  a  curious  volume,  speaks  of  it  in  this 
fashion : 

"It  cureth  many  griefs,  dolour,  imposthume,  or  obstruc- 
tions, proceeding-  of  cold  or  wind,  especially  in  the  head  or 
breast.  The  fumes  taken  in  the  pipe  are  good  against  rumes, 
catarrh,  hoarseness,  ache  in  the  head,  stomach,  lungs  and 
breast;  also  in  want  of  meat,  drink,  sleep  and  rest." 

Another  one  declared  that  "wh3n  all  things  were  made 
none_were  made  better  than  this  to  be  a  lone  man's  company, 
a  bachelor's  friend,  a  hungry  man's  food,  a  sad  man's  cordial, 
a  wakeful  man's  sleep,  a  chilly  man's  fire;  while  for  staunch- 
ing wounds,  purging  of  rheum,  settling  of  the  stomach,  there 
is  no  herb  like  it  under  the  canopy  of  Heaven." 

Even  Spenser,  speaking  of  its  curative  powers,  called  it 
"divine  tobacco." 

There  was  a  common  notion  that,  to  a  measure  at  least, 
it  could  be  substituted  for  food,  and  being  in  a  compact  form 
and  convenient  and  accessible,  it  was  considered  a  great  ad- 
dition to  one's  economic  outfit. 

"Much  victuals  serve  for  gluttony  to  fatten  men  like  swine, 
But  he  is  a  frugal  man  indeed  that  with  a  leaf  can  dine. 
And  needs  no  napkin  for  his  hands,  his  fingers'   ends  to  wipe. 
But  keeps  his  kitchen  in  a  box  and  roasts  meat  in  a  pipe." 

This  is  an  evident  allusion  to  the  belief  of  the  people  in 
the  nutritious  as  a\  ell  as  the  stimulative  qualities  of  the  weed. 

Oliver  Cromwell  held  the  same  views  as  King  James 
about  tobacco,  claiming  that  the  raising  of  it  in  England  was 
to  "misuse  and  misemploy  the  soil  of  the  kingdom."  He 
sent  (OUt  soldiers,  who  themselves  were  great  users  of  the 
weed,  to  trample  down  and  destroy  all  the  growing  crops  of 
tobacco.  It  was  related  that  some  of  these  same  soldiers,  in 
attending  the  funeral  of  Cromwell,  ostentatiously  smoked, 
reaping  thus  a  sort  of  poetic  vengeance  upon  him. 


i62  COLONIAL   VIRGINIA. 

The  moralists  and  preachers  of  the  seventeenth  century 
were  not  slow  in  making  the  use  of  the  weed  the  vehicle  for 
moral  and  religious  instruction.  A  very  famous  example  of 
such  use  can  be  discovered  in  the  following  quaint  verses.  It 
should  be  explained,  however,  before  these  verses  are  reciteJ, 
that  smoking  tobacco  was  called  "drinking  tobacco,"  as  the 
taking  in  lof  the  smoke  seemed  to  the  mind  of  the  day  very 
much  to  resemble  the  homely  art  of  drinking.  And  so  when 
one  was  asked  to  have  a  drink  it  might,  perhaps,  have  meant 
nothing  more  than  the  offering  of  a  cigar  or  pipe, 

"Why  should  we  so  much  despise 
So  good  and  wholesome  an  exercise, 
As  early  or  late  to  meditate, 

Thus  think  and  drink  tobacco. 

"The  earthen  pipe,  so  lily-white. 
Shows  thou  art  a  mortal  wight; 
Even  such  gone  with  a  small  touch — 
Thus  think  and  drink  tobacco. 

"And  when  the  smoke    ascending  high. 
Think  on  the  worldly  vanity, 
Of  worldly  stuff,  'tis  gone  with  a  puff. 
Thus  think  and  drink  tobacco. 

"And  when  the  pipe  is  foul  within, 
Think  how  the  soul's  defiled  with  sin; 
To  purge  with  flre  it  doth  require — • 
Thus  think  and  drink  tobacco. 

"Lastly,   the  ashes  left  behind 
May  daily  show,  to  move  the  mind, 
That  to  ashes  and  dust  return  we  must — 
Thus  think  and  drink  tobacco." 


CHAPTER  XII. 
HOME  BUILDING  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

Plainly  enoug'h  it  was  not  the  intention  of  the  first  set- 
tlers of  Virginia  to  establish  themselves  in  permanent  homes 
on  the  new  continent.  They  had  come  with  dreams  of  quickly 
acquired  wealth  and  of  the  recuperation  of  lost  fortunes,  ex- 
pecting to  return  to  England  to  resume  there  the  old  place  as 
gentlemen  of  leisure  or  to  further  increase  their  store  by  the 
pursuit  of  a  mercantile  or  industrial  career  surrounded  by  the 
comforts  of  civilization.  It  was  very  far  from  their  plan  to 
spend  all  their  days  in  this  land  of  mfidels  and  savages.  On 
this  account  a  number  of  years  passed  by  before  there  was 
any  real  attempt  at  home  building.  The  two  prime  requisites 
in  home  building  were  altogether  absent  from  the  lives  of 
these  first  settlers,  namely,  houses  to  live  in  and  women  to 
manage  them.  Concerning  the  first.  Smith  bears  testimony 
that  the  first  homes  were  scarcely  more  than  the  common 
shacks  ordinarily  used  by  huntsmen  and  fishermen.  He  de- 
scribes their  lodgings  as  being  "castles  in  the  air,"  so  flimsy 
and  temporary  were  their  first  structures. 

Concerning  the  women,  the  records  bear  out  the  statement 
that  among  the  first  settlers  there  were  none  of  them.  Nor 
were  there  any  with  the  first  supply  which  Newport  brought 
over  in  the  fall  of  1607.  The  first  women  of  whose  coming 
we  have  any  record  were  brought  over  in  the  second  supply  in 
1608,  and  were  Mistress  Forest,  probably  the  wife  of  Thomas 
Forest,  a  gentleman  who  came  to  Virginia  at  this  time,  and 

163 


i64  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA. 

her  maid,  Anne  Biirras.  The  maid,  we  have  already  learned, 
was  married  in  the  fall  of  1608  to  Jiohn  Laydon.  This  state- 
ment is  an  apparent  contradiction  to  the  story  told  by  Strachey 
that  Pocahontas  used  to  visit  the  settlement  and  frequently 
cook  the  boys  and  girls  out  on  the  Jamestown  green  and 
taught  them  various  Indian  games.  Evidently  Mr.  Strachey 
was  confusing  the  visits  of  Pocahontas  with  later  visits  made 
by  other  Indian  maidens  after  the  days  of  John  Smith  in  Vir* 
ginia.  If  we  can  rely  on  Smith's  history,  Mistress  Forest  and 
Anne  Burras  were  "the  first  gentlewoman  and  woman  ser- 
vant to  arrive  in  the  colony." 

In  the  nine  ships  under  the  command  of  Gates,  Somers, 
Newport  and  others,  there  were  one  hundred  women  and 
about  four  or  five  hundred  men.  This  was  really  the  first 
coming  of  the  women  who  were  to  be  the  mothers  and  build- 
ers of  Virginia  homes.  During  the  same  year,  1609,  a  broad- 
side was  issued  concerning  the  plantation  in  Virginia,  making 
an  appeal  for  workmen  of  "all  crafts,  especially  blacksmiths, 
carpenters,  coopers,  shipwrights,  turners,  and  such  as  knew 
how  to  plant  vineyards,  hunters,  shoemakers  and  sawyers, 
and  those  who  spin  wool,  and  all  others,  men  as  well  as  wo- 
men, who  have  any  occupation."  It  is  to  be  remembered 
that  with  Somers  and  Gates  were  John  Rolfe  and  his  wife, 
and  on  the  Sea  Venture,  which  was  wrecked  on  the  Bermudas, 
there  were  twenty  women  and  children,  indicating  that  the 
gentlemen  who  came  in  the  party  were  bringing  their  families 
along  with  them.  In  161 1  there  came  more  women,  but  they 
are  designated  as  "a  few  women."  This  was  the  report  that 
the  Spanish  ambassador  in  England  made  to  the  King  of 
Spain,  complaining  that  English  settlers  were  gaining  a  foot- 
hold in  Virginia.  Toward  the  end  of  161 1  another  such  re- 
port speaks  of  the  arrival  of  Sir  Thomas  Gates  in  Virginia 
with  two  hundred  and  eighty  men  and  twenty  women.     It 


HOME  BUILDING.  165 

was  doubtless  the  coming  of  this  group  that  excited  the  sus- 
picion and  alarm  of  the  Spanish  ambassador. 

In  1616,  on  Mr.  Dale's  return  to  England,  there  was  a  re- 
port lOn  the  state  of  Virginia,  and  allusion  was  made  to  the 
fact  that  there  remained  in  Virginia  only  a  poor  remnant  of 
men  and  women.  Bacon,  in  his  essay  on  "Plantations,"  which 
was  written  for  the  purpose  of  encouraging  the  settlement  of 
Virginia,  shows  conclusively  that  only  a  few  women  had,  up 
to  that  time,  been  sent  to  the  colony.  "When  the  plantation 
grows  to  strength,  then  it  is  time  to  plant  with  women  as 
well  as  with  men,  that  the  plantation  may  spread  into  genera- 
tions and  not  be  ever  pieced  from  without."  In  other  words, 
Bacon  was  looking  to  the  time  when  Virginia  might  have  a 
population  which  would  increase  from  its  own  offspring  and 
not  be  dependent  any  longer  upon  constant  importations  from 
England. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  but  at  the  time  Bacon  wrote  the 
London  Company  had  become  aroused  to  the  situation.  In 
the  proceedings  of  the  London  Company,  November  3,  1619, 
there  is  recorded  a  report  from  Sir  George  Yeardley  asking 
that  one  hundred  women  should  be  sent  over,  "Maides  young 
and  uncorrupt  to  make  wives  to  the  Inhabitants,  and  by  that 
meanes  to  make  the  men  there  more  setled  and  lesse  moveable, 
who,  by  defect  thereof  (as  is  credibly  reported),  stay  there  but 
to  gett  something  and  then  tjO  returnc  for  England,  wch 
will  breed  dissolucon,  and  so,  an  overthrow  of  the  plantacon. 
These  women  if  they  marry  to  the  publiq  ffarmors,  to  be 
transported  at  the  charges  lof  the  Company;  Is  otherwise, 
then  those  that  takes  them  to  wife  to  pay  the  said  Com- 
pany their  charges  of  transportacon,  and  it  was  never  fitter 
time  to  sende  them  than  nowe."  This  scheme  was  approved 
by  the  London  Company,  and  maidens  and  wives  were  sent 
in  accordance  with  the  request  of  the  Governor.     It  should 


i66  COLONIAL   VIRGINIA. 

be  said,  however,  that  even  before  this  action  had  been  ol- 
ficially  taken,  there  had  come  already  ninety  young  women 
to  Virginia  in  the  early  part  of  1619.  This,  however,  was 
due  to  the  far-sighted  statesmanship  of  Sir  Edwin  Sandys. 
In  1 62 1  the  London  Company  agam  topk  up  the  matter  of 
sending  maids  to  Virginia,  concerning  which  the  following 
entries  are  made  in  the  records  of  the  London  Company: 

"The  Third  roll  was  for  sendinge  maydes  to  Virginia  to 
be  made  wyves,  wch  the  planters  there  did  verie  much  de- 
sire by  the  want  of  whome  have  sprange  the  greatest  hin- 
derances  of  the  encrease  of  the  Plantacon  in  that  most  of 
them  esteeminge  Virginia  not  as  a  place  of  habitacon  but 
onely  of  a  short  sojourninge  have  applied  themselves  and 
their  labors  wholly  to  the  raisinge  of  present  profitt  and  ut- 
terly neglected  not  onely  staple  Comodities  but  even  the 
verie  necessities  of  man's  life,  in  regard  whereof  and  to  prevent 
so  great  an  inconvenience  hereafter  whereby  the  planters' 
minds  may  be  the  faster  tyed  to  Virginia  by  the  bonds  of 
wyves  and  children,  care  hath  bin  taken  to  provide  them 
younge  handsome  and  honestly  educated  maydes  whereof  sixty 
are  already  sente  to  Virginia,  being  such  as  were  specially 
recommended  unto  the  Company  for  their  good  bringinge 
up  by  their  parents  or  friends  of  good  worth :  Wch  maydes 
are  to  be  disposed  in  marriage  to  the  most  honest  and  in- 
dustrious planters  who  are  to  defraye  and  satisfie  to  the 
Adventurors  the  charges  pi  their  passages  and  provisions 
at  such  rates  as  they  and  the  Adventurors'  Agents  there  shall 
agree  and  in  case  any  of  them  faile  through  mortality  it  is 
ordered  that  a  proporconable  addicon  shalbe  made  upon  the 
rest.  In  the  furtherance  of  wch  Christian  Accon  diuers  of 
the  said  Adventurors  had  tmderwritt  divers  good  somes  of 
money  none  under  8  li  whereby  the  whole  Some  of  that  Roll 
did  already  amount  to  800  li  as  may  appeare  by  the  subscrip- 
tions." 


HOME  BUILDING.  167 

A  party,  in  writing  from  England  at  this  time,  said: 

"We  send  you  a  shipment,  one  widow  and  eleven  maids, 
for  wives  lof  the  people  of  Virginia;  there  hath  been  especial 
care  had  in  the  choice  of  them,  for  there  hath  not  one  of 
them  been  received  but  upon  good  commendations, 

"In  case  they  cannot  be  presently  married,  we  desire  that 
they  may  be  put  with  several  householders  that  have  wives, 
until  they  can  be  provided  with  husbands.  There  are  nearly 
fifty  more  that  are  shortly  to  come,  and  are  sent  by  our 
Honorable  lord  and  treasurer,  the  Earl  of  Southampton,  and 
certain  worthy  gentlemen,  who,  taking  into  consideration 
that  the  plantation  can  never  flourish  till  families  be  planted, 
and  the  respect  of  wives  and  children  for  their  people  on  the 
soil,  therefore  having  given  this  fair  beginning;  reimbursing 
of  whose  charges  it  is  ordered  that  every  man  that  marries 
them,  give  one  hundred  and  twenty  pounds  of  best  leaf  to- 
bacco for  each  of  them. 

"We  desire  that  the  marriage  be  free  according  to  nature, 
and  we  would  not  have  those  maidens  deceived  and  married 
to  servants,  but  only  to  such  freemen  or  tenants  as  have 
means  to  maintain  them.  We  pray  you.  therefore,  to  be 
fathers  of  them  in  this  business,  not  enforcing  them  to  marry 
against  their  wills." 

With  the  introduction  of  women  and  the  forming  of  fam- 
ily ties  in  the  colony  there  followed,  of  course,  a  very  general 
domestic  and  social  improvement.  The  first  sign  of  this  bet- 
terment was  to  be  discovered  in  the  improvement  of  the 
homes  and  the  increase  of  domestic  conveniences.  It  has 
already  been  suggested  that  the  first  homes  were  pi  a.  very 
rude  and  flimsy  sort,  made  chiefly  of  clapboard  and  logs, 
but  even  before  Smith's  departure  from  the  colony  there  was 
a  great  solicitude  on  his  part  that  the  people  should  be 
housed  in  more  comfortable  and  more  secure  homes.     We 


i68  COLONIAL   VIRGINIA. 

find  that  he  insisted  that  the  London  Company  should  send 
over  men  who  would  be  able  to  build  stable  and  comfortable 
houses,  making-  an  appeal  for  workmen  of  all  crafts,  espe- 
cially carpenters  and  brick  masons.  On  the  succession  of 
Governor  Yeardley  the  same  urgency  was  repeatedly  ex- 
pressed. He  was  instrumental  in  getting  for  the  colonists 
very  many  things  that  contributed  to  the  comfiort  and  use- 
fulness of  the  homes. 

The  first  houses  tha.  were  constructed  were  frame  build- 
ings, the  timber  for  which  was  cut  from  the  neighboring  for- 
ests and  sawed  at  first  by  hand,  though  we  know  that  a  saw- 
mill was  established  at  Jamestown  in  1630.  The  output  of 
such  mills  as  were  in  the  colony  must  have  been  very 
meagre,  for  throughout  the  seventeenth  century  there  was 
a  constant  complaint  on  account  of  the  lack  of  suitable  tim- 
ber and  boards  for  the  construction  of  houses. 

Jamestown  was  at  first  literally  a  wooden  town,  on  which 
account  it  was  speedily  and  completely  swept  away  by  fire 
in  the  terrible  winter  of  i6o8-'o9.  Not  until  these  disastrous 
conflagrations  had  been  repeated  several  times  was  there  any 
real  purpose  to  secure  houses  of  brick.  There  were,  to  be 
sure,  a  few  bricklayers  in  the  colony,  but  their  work  had  been 
hitherto  confined  mainly  to  the  building  of  foundations  and 
the  construction  of  chimneys.  It  was  provided  that  brick- 
makers  should  be  placed  up(>>n  the  college  lands  at  Henrico, 
but  so  far  as  the  record  goes  there  was  not  a  single  brick 
house  in  the  colony  at  the  time  the  Virginia  Colony  became 
a  royal  province.  Thirteen  years  later  Governor  Francis 
Wyat  received  instructions  to  the  effect  that  he  should  re- 
quire every  owner  of  a  plantation  so  large  as  one  hundred 
acres  of  land  to  build  upon  it  a  brick  house  at  least  twenty- 
four  feet  long  and  sixteen  feet  wide,  but  there  is  no  evidence 
that  there  instructions  were  carried  out  in  many  instances. 


HOME  BUILDING.  169 

This  same  order  was  afterward  repeated  to  Sir  William 
Berkeley.  It  is  known  that  the  secretary  of  the  colony, 
Kemp,  did  erect  a  brick  residence  at  about  this  time  in  James- 
town, which  was  reported  to  be  the  most  substantial  private 
dwelling  in  the  colony.  It  is  likely  that  during  Berkeley's 
time  more  tlian  one-half  of  the  buildings  constructed  at 
Jamestown  were  of  brick,  and  by  the  beginning  of  the  eigh- 
teenth century  many  of  the  best  homes  were  built  of  brick. 
Berkeley  caused  a  brick  mansion  to  be  built  for  himself  at 
Green  Springs,  about  six  miles  from  Jamestown.  The  larger 
colonial  mansions,  however,  were  not  erected  until  later  in 
the  eighteenth  century.  The  seventeenth  century  houses 
were  usually  not  over  forty  feet  long  by  twenty  feet  wide, 
and  quite  frequently  not  even  so  large.  None  of  these  first 
buildings  exhibited  any  architectural  design  or  beauty.  They 
were  usually  a  story  and  a  half  high,  with  dormer  windows, 
and  in  many  ways  were  quite  unique,  and  in  mau}^  things 
quite  attractive ;  but  they  did  not  by  any  means  compare 
with  the  homes  of  Englishmen  of  the  same  rank. 

It  was  an  exceedingly  difficult  matter  to  procure  materials 
that  entered  into  the  construction  of  buildings ;  especially 
was  it  a  difficult  matter  to  find  nails.  So  scarce  were  they 
that  we  are  told  that  some  land-owners,  v.-henever  they  moved 
westward  to  take  up  better  lands,  used  to  burn  their  cabins 
m  order  to  secure  nails  for  the  construction  of  their  new- 
homes.  This  custom  became  so  general  that  in  1645  a  law 
was  passed  requiring  every  planter  to  leave  his  dwelling 
intact,  and  that  he  should  be  allowed,  at  public  expense,  as 
many  nails  as  two  impartial  men  would  decide  was  the  num- 
ber of  nails  in  the  building  which  he  was  leaving  behind  him. 
This  Vv^as  done  with  the  hope  of  preventing  further  destruc- 
tion of  property.  Doubtless  the  first  houses  at  Jamestown, 
iri  the  majority  of  cases,  were  built  without  the  use  of  nails. 


170  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA. 

Mr.  Butler,  no  doubt,  had  ample  ground  for  his  assertion,  in 
"Virg-inia  Unmasked,"  that  the  Virginia  homes  were  the 
worst  in  the  world,  and  that  the  most  wretched  cottages  in 
England  were  equal,  if  not  superior,  to  the  finest  dwellings 
in  the  colony. 

The  houses  were  ordinarily  built  upon  the  same  general 
plan,  and  the  typical  dwelling  in  Virginia  in  the  seventeenth 
century  was  a  plain,  unadorned  frame  house  of  moderate  size, 
with  a  chimney  built  on  the  outside  at  each  end. 

There  is  an  account  of  the  home  occupied  by  Nathaniel 
Bacon,  Sr.,  at  the  close  of  the  seventeenth  century,  in  which 
it  is  described  as  containing  what  is  known  as  the  old  and 
new  hall,  a  room  over  the  hall,  an  outer  room,  an  upper 
chamber,  a  chamber  of  Mrs.  Bacon's,  a  chamber  above  it, 
also  a  kitchen,  a  dairy  and  storeroom;  the  three  latter,  doubt- 
less, being  separated  from  the  main  residence.  Colonel  Bacon 
was  one  of  the  largest  property  holders  in  Virginia,  and  his 
residence  must  have  been  far  above  the  average  in  size  and 
convenient  arrangement. 

Robert  Beverley,  the  historian,  whose  estate  was  ap- 
praised at  many  thousands  of  dollars  in  cur  money,  occupied 
a  house  which  contained  a  chamber  in  which  he  himself  slept, 
a  second  chamber  overhead,  a  porch  and  hall  chamber,  a 
dairy  and  kitchen,  and  the  overseer's  room.  The  plastering 
of  these  homes  was  nothing  more  than  a  thick  layer  of  mud 
covered  with  whitewash.  The  roofing  was  usually  of  shingles 
or  clapboards.  There  were  rarely  glass  windows,  but  only 
slides. 

The  furniture  of  these  early  homes  was  imported  into 
the  colony,  mainly  in  exchange  for  tobacco  shipped  to  Eng- 
land. The  furnishings  of  the  homes,  however  unattractive 
the  exterior  might  have  been,  were,  in  many  instances,  equally 
as  good  as   that   of  the   best   London   homes.      Their   bed- 


HOME   BUILDING.  171 

steads  are  described  under  the  following  titles:  "The  large 
"bed,"  "the  sea  bed,"  "the  flock  bed"  and  "the  trundle  bed." 
The  bedsticks  were  usually  made  of  canvas  stuffed  with  the 
feathers  of  wild  and  domestic  fowl,  but  oftentimes  were 
stuffed  with  the  flower  of  the  cattail,  which  is  almost  as  soft 
as  down.  In  the  chamber  was  usually  found  a  trunk,  a  chest 
of  drawers  with  a  looking-glass  attached,  and  an  open  fire- 
place with  andirons  of  brass  or  iron.  The  dining-room  was 
fitted  out  with  an  imported  table,  chairs  and  sideboard.  For 
the  poorer  class  the  plates  from  which  they  ate  were  made  of 
pewter.  I^or  the  better  class  china  was  used  and  imported 
frpm  England.  By  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth  century 
there  was,  according  to  the  author  of  "Leah  and  Rachel,"  a 
good  supply  of  silver  in  many  of  the  homes  of  the  prosperous 
planters.  Silver  grand  cups  and  spoons  were  in  special  evi- 
dence. The  candle  was  the  common  means  of  lighting  the 
house  at  night,  and  was  usually  manufactured  from  wax 
and  suet.  The  candlesticks  were  of  many  kinds  and  fash- 
ions— earthenware,  pewter,  brass,  copper,  iron,  and,  at  times, 
even  silver  entered  into  their  manufacture.  In  the  homes 
of  the  poorer  classes  the  pine  knot,  m  all  likelihood,  took  the 
place  of  the  candle. 

As  to  the  matter  of  dress,  it  is  somewhat  difficult  to  dis- 
cover satisfactory  information.  It  is  probable  that  the  men 
of  the  colony  dressed,  especially  on  occasions,  far  more  ac- 
cording to  the  fashion  of  England  than  was  usually  expected 
of  people  living  in  the  wilderness.  This  is  explained  by  the 
fact  that  many  of  the  settlers  being  English  gentlemen, 
brought  with  them  the  clothes  of  London  gallants  of  their 
rank,  and  that  they  continued  for  a  long  time  to  Import  their 
wardrobes  from  England.  John  Smith  advised  that  every 
settler  coming  to  the  colony  should  secure  in  England  a 
Monmouth  cap,  three  shirts,  one  waistcoat,  one  suit  of  can- 


172  COLONIAL   VIRGINIA. 

vas,  one  of  broadcloth,  three  pairs  of  Irish  stockings,  one 
pair  of  garters,  four  pairs  of  shoes  and  one  djozen  pairs  of 
points. 

A  gentleman  dying  at  Jamestown  in  1629  bequeathed 
his  personal  clothes  to  friends.  Among  his  garments  there 
was  a  coif,  a  cross  cloth  of  wrought  gold,  a  pair  of  silk 
stockings,  a  pair  of  red  slippers,  a  sea-green  scarf,  six  dozen 
buttons  of  silk  and  thread,  a  felt  hat,  a  Polish  fur  cap,  a 
doublet  of  black  camlet,  a  vest,  a  sword  and  a  gold  belt.  It 
should  be  said,  however,  that  this  gentleman  was  a  promi- 
nent merchant  of  Jamestown,  and  probably  this  bequest  rep- 
resented a  part  of  his  stock  of  goods  which  he  had  been  of- 
fering for  sale  to  the  English  gentlemen  of  the  Jamestown 
settlement. 

By  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth  century  the  House  of 
Burgesses  passed  a  law  prohibiting  the  introduction  of  gar- 
ments containing  silk;  of  the  introduction  of  silk  pieces,  ex- 
cept for  hoods  or  scarfs ;  or  of  silver,  gold  or  bone  lace,  or 
of  ribbons  wrought  with  gold  or  silver.  Such  a  sumptuary 
law,  however,  as  may  easily  be  imagined,  had  no  appreciable 
effect,  and  we  know  that  the  Virginians  at  the  time  of  Wil- 
liam Berkeley  dressed  in  the  mode  of  English  gentlemen.  All 
the  privations  and  hardships  of  the  wilderness  life  could  not 
take  away  from  them  the  inherited  tendencies  of  old  Eng- 
land in  the  matter  of  dress. 

From  the  meagre  descriptions  that  remain  to  us,  it  would 
seem  that  the  wardrobe  of  the  women  of  the  colonies  was 
somewhat  less  elaborate  than  that  of  the  men  of  the  first 
rank.  For  a  long  time  after  the  establishment  of  the  colony 
all  of  their  clothes  were  imported  from  Eneland.  Silk  seems 
to  have  been  quite  in  vogue  as  material  for  dresses,  petti- 
coats and  stockings.  It  must  be  remembered  that  it  was 
very  many  years  before  cotton  came  into  cultivation  and  use, 


HOME  BUILDING.  i73 

and  that  there  was  not  at  first,  therefore,  the  spinning-wheel's 
presence  or  that  of  the  loom  in  the  homes  of  the  colonists. 
Later  on  these  found  a  lar^e  and  useful  place  in  the  econo- 
mies of  the  household,  and  many  of  the  garments  of  the 
poorer  class,  especially  of  the  servants  and  slaves,  were  spun, 
woven  and  made  on  these  plantations.  It  came  to  be  after 
awhile  so  that  each  plantation  was  a  kingdom  unto  itself, 
and  provided  largely  for  all  the  food  eaten  and  the  clothes 
worn  on  the  plantation. 

The  dress  of  these  colonial  dames  was  not  altogether  de- 
void of  jewels  and  ornaments.  Jewels,  such  as  pearl  neck- 
laces, gold  pendants,  silver  earrings  and  gold  finger  rings 
were  frequently  to  be  seen  on  the  persons  of  the  better  class 
of  women.  These  were,  of  course,  brought  over  from  Eng- 
land in  most  instances  by  the  wives  of  the  early  governors, 
members  of  Council,  and  of  other  distinguished  gentlemen 
who  came  to  the  colony  in  the  early  days.  By  the  time  of 
the  flourishing  da3^s  of  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth  cen- 
tury these  evidences  of  wealth  and  luxury  were  imported 
from  England. 

An  interesting  use  was  made  of  a  jewel  called  the  gift 
ring,  and  was  provided  for  in  wills.  These  gift  rings  were 
left  to  friends  and  relatives  as  parting  mementoes,  and  were 
frequently  designated  as  mourning  rings.  In  the  will  of  Na- 
thaniel Bacon,  Sr.,  it  was  ordered  that  twenty  pounds  of  his 
estate  should  be  used  to  buy  mourning  rings  for  certain  per- 
sons to  whom  he  was  greatly  attached.  John  Page's  will  au- 
thorized the  purchase  of  eighteen  such  rings. 

The  plantations  were  widely  removed  from  one  another, 
and  communication  between  them  was  not  easy  unless  they 
were  located  along  the  river  banks ;  then  the  river  served  as  an 
easy  and  delightful  means  of  transportation.  The  roads  were 
scarcely  more  than  bridle-paths,  and  the  streams  were  rarely 


174  COLONIAL   VIRGINIA. 

bridged.  It  will  be  recalled,  however,  that  in  the  country, 
as  the  first  settlers  found  it,  there  was  very  little  under- 
growth, and  it  was  easy  to  find  passageways  through  the 
forests.  In  the  early  days  the  planters  had  no  horses.  It 
was  1619  before  it  had  occurred  to  the  company  in  Lon'don 
to  send  horses  to  the  farms.  In  1627  Charles  I.  urged  the 
people  of  Virginia  to  produce  pitch  and  tar.  The  Governor 
and  Council  replied  that  nothing  could  be  done  along  this 
line  until  the  colony  was  provided  with  horses  with  which  to 
transport  the  wood  to  the  kilns  where  the  pitch  and  tar 
could  be  made.  As  late  as  1649  there  were  only  three  hun- 
dred horses  in  the  entire  colony,  and  fourteen  years  later  the 
record  shows  that  this  number  had  been  greatly  increased. 
The  prices  were,  however,  still  very  high.  In  1669  an  act 
of  the  Assembly  set  forth  the  fact  that  horses  were  becom- 
ing a  burden  on  the  community,  in  that  they  were  allowed  to 
run  at  large.  This  is  an  indication  that  the  number  must 
have  rapidly  increased. 

Cows,  goats  and  swine  were  brought  from  the  old  coun- 
try at  a  very  early  date,  but  we  are  told  that  during  the 
"Starvation  Time"  all  of  these  were  killed  with  the  excep- 
tion of  one  sow;  so  when  Lord  Delaware  arrived  in  1610 
he  dispatched  forthwith  a  ship  to  the  Bermudas  to  procure 
a  number  of  wild  hogs.  In  161 1  Dale  brought  over  a  cargo 
of  sixty  cows,  and  in  the  summer  of  the  same  year  another 
cargo  of  one  hundred  cows  and  two  hundred  hogs  was  im- 
ported. Every  effort  was  made  to  get  more  beasts  of  burden. 
Oxen  were  in  more  common  use  than  at  the  present  day, 
and  frequently  the  ox  was  used  in  plowing.  In  1615  Argail 
made  an  expedition  into  Canada  and  seized  a  number  of 
horses,  which  were  brought  into  Virginia.  Yet,  w^hen  Yeard- 
ley  became  Governor,  domestic  animals  were  so  scarce  in 
the  colony  that  he  made  a  long  report,  urging  the  London 


HOME  BUILDING  175 

Company  to  send  tp  the  colony  a  number  of  horses,  heifers, 
etc.,  and  he  imported  a  herd  of  twenty-four  cattle  to  be 
placed  on  his  farm  at  Flower  de  Hundred.  The  fact  that 
cattle  were  so  scarce  in  Virginia  probably  explains,  if  it  does 
not  excuse,  Dr.  John  Pott's  act  of  larceny  in  stealing  SfDme 
cows.  By  1650,  however,  cows  were  very  numerous  and 
prices  had  very  greatly  decreased.  Still,  for  a  number  of 
years,  in  order  that  the  cattle  might  be  allowed  to  multiply, 
it  was  made  a  felony  to  slaughter  a  cow.  The  proportion 
of  cows  and  oxen  was  very  much  larger  than  that  of  horses, 
as  is  shown  by  the  inventories  of  the  estates  during  the 
seventeenth  century,  the  proportion  being  generally  one 
horse  to  seven  cattle.  It  is  doubtless  true  that  the  first  Vir- 
ginia families  worked  their  lands  with  oxen  and  used  their 
horses  more  for  pleasure  than  as  beasts  of  burden. 

From  this  statement  it  will  be  seen  that  after  the  first 
years  of  colonial  life,  very  rapid  progress  was  made  in  the 
evolution  of  the  Virginia  home.  With  a  very  remarkable 
celerity,  due  to  the  thrift  of  the  colony  in  the  development 
of  the  commerce  in  tobacco,  these  settlers  were  able  to  es- 
tablish homes  in  which,  by  the  close  lof  the  seventeenth  cen- 
tury, there  was  exceeding  plenty  and  exceeding  comfort.  It 
is,  no  doubt,  due  to  the  domestic  affluence  of  these  early 
days  that  the  Virginias  have  ever  been  fond  of  good  living. 
Early  in  the  history  of  the  colony  the  grace  of  hospitality 
was  assiduously  and  cheerfully  cultivated,  so  that  since  the 
founding  of  these  first  Virginia  homes  there  have  been  no 
doors  thrown  quite  so  wide  open  in  the  offer  of  genial  and 
cheerful  hospitality  as  the  homes  of  the  "Old  Dominion." 
Even  unto  this  day  hospitality  has  nowhere  under  the  'stars 
so  generous  an  exemplification  as  in  the  homes  of  the  heirs 
and  successors  to  these  builders  of  the  first  homes  in  the 
Virginia  Colony. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 
MASSACRE  AND  REVENGE. 

Under  the  wise  administration  of  Governor  Yeardley,  in 
three  years  the  Virginia  Colony  had  reached  a  very  high  state 
of  thrift  and  prosperity.  There  were  now  something  Hke  four 
thousand  Englishmen  in  the  colony.  Plantations  had  been 
planted  all  the  way  from  the  falls  at  Richmond,  on  either  side 
of  the  James  River,  reaching  around  Hampton  and  Newport 
News  to  Chesapeake  Bay.  Everywhere  were  the  evidences 
of  contentment  and  prosperity.  The  James  River  was  flecked 
with  the  sails  of  vessels  bringing  and  carrying  commerce  to 
and  from  the  new  colony.  In  the  last  three  years  there  had 
been  especial  development  in  several  directions.  The  General 
Assembly  had  been  established,  and  was  being  cherished  with 
determination  and  patriotic  pride.  With  its  establishment 
there  had  come  a  self-reliance  and  a  feeling  of  competency 
that  were  the  guarantee  of  increasing  strenp-th  and  stability. 
There  had  sprung  up  between  the  coionv  and  the  old  country 
a  most  remarkable  commerce  in  tobacco.  So  large  were  the 
returns  from  its  cultivation  that  many  of  the  most  substantial 
class  from  the  old  country  were  attracted  to  the  new  colony. 
Within  three  years,  with  unwonted  dispatch,  these  people 
were  being  established  upon  large  and  thrifty  plantations. 

With  the  coming  of  the  maids  in  1619  the  home  life  of 
the  colony  had  undergone  a  great  change.  Homes  had  been 
'established,  with  all  the  influence  and  encouragement  to  in- 
dustries incident  tjo  domestic  life.     The  prospect  was  one  of 

176 


MASSACRE   AND   REVENGE.  177 

unusual  promise,  and  there  seemed  to  be  on  the  horizon  noth- 
ing prophetic  of  any  serious  setback  in  the  history  of  the 
colony.  Upon  the  marriage  of  Pocahontas  with  Rplfe,  it 
seemed  as  though  amicable  relations  were  to  be  indeed  main- 
tained between  the  two  races.  The  Indians  were  no  longer 
feared  by  the  white  settlers.  The  freest  sort  of  traffic  and 
intercourse  was  maintained  between  the  two  races.  There 
was  a  constant  visitation  of  the  Indians  to  the  settlement  of 
the  whites,  where  they  had  cordial  welcome  and  where  they 
were  allowed  the  largest  liberties.  The  wise  regulations 
that  had  been  made  by  the  first  Assembly  had  fallen  into  dis- 
use ;  especially  had  there  been  a  violation  of  the  law  pro- 
hibiting the  sale  of  firearms,  until  here  and  there  in  every 
group  of  Indians  there  might  be  found  firearms,  in  the  use  of 
which  they  had  become  wonderfully  expert.  It  is  said  that 
Governor  Yeardley  himself  kept  an  Indian  servant  supplied 
with  firearms  in  order  that  game  might  be  procured  for  his 
use.  This  had  been  done  so  gradually  that  no  one  wls  aware 
of  how  it  ever  came  about  that  there  had  been  put  into  the 
hands  of  people  liable  to  become  their  enemies  at  any  time 
these  implements  of  destruction.  But  so  quiet  had  been 
the  demeanor  of  the  Indians,  so  kindly  the  treatment  of  the 
whites  at  their  hands,  so  many  the  tokens  of  cordial  good 
will,  that  all  suspicion  of  any  hatred  'or  treachery  on  their 
part  seemed  to  have  been  utterly  dissipated ;  so  when  there 
began  to  be  rumors  of  a  conspiracy  among  the  Indians  threat- 
ening the  lives  of  the  colonists  and  the  destruction  of  their 
institutions,  there  was  a  widespread  skepticism. 

Powhatan  died  in  1618,  about  a  year  after  the  death  of 
Pocahontas.  But  before  his  death  he  had  abdicated  in  favor 
of  his  brother,  Opitchapan,  who  is  described  as  being  "an  old 
and  inert  man."  He  was  soon  deposed  by  Opechancanough. 
There  is  a  tradition  to  the  effect  that  this  latter  was  not 


178  COLONIAL   VIRGINIA. 

really  a  brother  of  Powhatan,  nor  indeed  a  Virginian  at  all, 
but  a  mysterious  and  stalwart  stranger  from  some  south- 
western country,  who,  by  the  sheer  force  of  his  own  native 
abilit}^  became  the  head  of  the  federated  tribes  over  which 
Powhatan  had  ruled. 

We  have  already  seen  that  Powhatan  was  being  distressed 
over  the  fact  that  it  seemed  to  him  that  the  coming  of  the 
whites  meant  a  contest  for  the  lands  of  Virginia.  Doubtless, 
in  his  view,  it  was  inevitable  that  sooner  or  later  a  serious 
encounter  must  be  had.  the  issue  of  which  would  be  either 
that  the  whites  would  be  driven  into  the  sea,  or  the  Indians 
pushed  westward  into  the  interior.  But  he  was  old  and  in- 
disposed to  hasten  the  encounter,  and  thought  it  to  be  wise 
for  him  and  his  people,  as  long  as  he  lived,  to  be  on  amicable 
terms  with  the  white  settlers. 

When  Opechancanough  became  "Powhatan,"  he  was  a 
man  in  the  meridian  of  his  years,  full  of  strength  and  daring. 
He  did  not  fail  to  foresee  or  to  prepare  for  the  inevitable 
Cionflict.  There  is  evidence  that  early  in  his  reign  he  began 
to  plan  for  the  destruction  of  the  white  settlers  of  the  Yh- 
ginia  Colony.  It  came  to  him  that  he  might  by  one  con- 
certed, vigorous  and  sudden  blow  accomplish  the  destruction 
of  the  entire  colony  from  Richmond  to  Hampton.  In  the 
most  cunning,  secret  and  patient  way  he  gave  himself  to  the 
accomplishment  of  this  wicked  and  bloody  task.  With  con- 
summate diplomacy  he  brought  tribe  after  tribe  of  the  scat- 
tered Indians  into  the  scheme  and  compact  lOf  war.  For  four 
patient  years  he  devoted  himself  to  the  perfecting  of  his  con- 
spiracy and  the  maturing  of  his  plan  of  campaign.  In  a  most 
marvelous  way  the  scattered  hosts  of  savages  were  made 
leady  for  the  delivering  of  the  blow  that  should  fall  upon  the 
unsuspecting  and  unprepared  settlers  as  a  bolt  of  lightning 
out  of  a  clear  sky. 


MASSACRE   AND   REVENGE.  179 

In  1621  the  King  of  the  Eastern  Shore  Indians  informed 
the  EngHsh  that  on  the  occasion  of  the  ceremony  in  taking 
up  Powhatan's  bones  there  was  a  very  large  gathering  of 
Indians  from  the  various  tribes,  and  that  at  that  time  Ope- 
chancanough  made  a  general  plot  to  "set  upon"  every  planta- 
tion in  the  colony.  Governor  George  Yeardley,  on  receiving 
this  information,  went  in  person  to  every  plantation  and 
took  an  inventory  of  men  and  arms,  and  gave  earnest  instruc- 
tion that  they  keep  a  strict  watch  upon  their  Indian  neigh- 
bors. But  Opechancanough  protested  that  there  was  not  a 
particle  of  truth  in  the  rumor,  and  the  English,  not  being 
able  to  discover  any  other  proof,  believed  his  statement  to  be 
true.  After  Governor  Wyatt,  the  successor  lof  Yeardley,  en- 
tered upon  his  office,  he  sent  a  special  message  to  the  Indian 
chief  to  know  about  the  chances  of  continued  peace  between 
them.  The  old  chief  sent  word  back  that  he  was  so  deeply 
enamiored  of  the  peace  existing  between  the  settlers  and  his 
people  that  the  skies  should  fall  before  he  broke  it.  Further- 
more, at  his  earnest  request,  the  "words  of  peace"  were 
stamped  in  brass  and  nailed  to  his  favorite  oak  tree. 

George  Thorpe,  superintendent  of  the  college  lands  at 
Henrico,  had  always  entertained  a  great  interest  in  the  In- 
dians, and  especially  in  the  Indian  chief.  He  built  him  a 
house,  which  greatly  delighted  the  Indian  emperor.  "Thorpe 
first  built  him  a  fair  house,  in  which  he  took  much  joy,  es- 
pecially with  the  lock  and  key."  It  is  said  that  the  old  In- 
dian chief  was  so  bewitched  with  the  mechanism  of  the  lock 
and  key  that  he  would  lock  and  unlock  the  door  hundreds  of 
times  during  the  day,  playing  with  it  as  a  child  would  with 
a  toy.  I 

Thorpe  having  thus  gained,  as  he  believed,  Opechancan- 
ough's  good  graces,  he  undertook  to  convert  him  to  the  Chris- 
tian faith,  and  the  old  Indian  showed  great  interest.     "So  as 


i8o  COLONIAL   VIRGINIA. 

he  gave  him  a  faire  hearing  and  a  good  answer  and  both  he 
and  his  people  for  the  daily  courtesies  of  the  good  gentleman, 
did  promise  such  outward  love  and  respect  unto  him  as 
nothing  could  seeme  more."  The  old  chief  evidently  was 
willing  to  be  converted  if  it  would  make  more  certain  the 
chances  of  securing  Thorpe's  scalp. 

In  every  ostensible  way  Opechancanough  was  the  devoted 
friend  and  brother  of  the  white  man.  He  permitted  no  op- 
portunity to  pass  without  the  expression  of  his  undying 
friendship.  White  men  who  had  been  lost  in  the  wilderness 
were  furnished  with  guides  back  to  the  settlement.  White 
prisoners  who  had  been  detained  in  the  camps  of  the  Indians 
were  sent  back  bearing  every  possible  token  and  expression 
of  brotherly  and  neighborly  regard.  The  very  morning  when 
the  blow  fell,  Indians  came  into  the  various  settlements  bear- 
ing gifts  of  game  and  making  protestations  of  cordial  friend- 
ship. They  accepted  the  hospitality  of  the  Virginians  and 
ate  their  morning  meal  at  their  tables.  There  was  on  the 
part  of  the  white  settlers  no  suspicion  at  all  in  the  act.  They 
had  come  so  thoroughly  to  believe  that  the  Indians  were  a 
subdued  race  that  they  would  not  tolerate  the  suggestion  that 
they  were  capable  of  doing  them  any  harm  or  hurt.  An 
Indian  named  Nemattanow,  and  whom  the  settlers  called 
"Jack  of  the  Feather,"  murdered  one  of  the  colonists,  and 
was  immediately  killed.  Although  this  was  not  an  altogether 
new  sort  of  incident  in  the  relations  of  the  Indian  and 
white  man,  the  Indian  emperor  seized  quickly  upon  it  as  an 
excuse  for  making  trouble.  He  began  immediately  to  fire 
the  savage  heart  with  the  story  of  this  particular  outrage 
and  of  the  wicked  treatment  that  they  were  constantly  re- 
ceiving at  the  hands  of  the  white  men.  He  called  them  to 
the  act  of  retaliation  and  to  the  defense  of  their  homes,  in- 
vaded by  the  Englishmen. 


MASSACRE   AND   REVENGE.  l8l 

As  though  a  mine  had  been  planted,  the  explosion  came 
on  March  22,  1622,  at  the  same  hour  of  the  day,  all  the  way 
from  Berkeley's  plantation  to  Southampton's  Hundred,  on 
the  Chesapeake  Bay.  "They  fell  upon  the  English  and  basely 
and  barbarously  murthered  them,  not  sparing  age  or  sex, 
man,  woman  or  child.  Being  at  tnelr  several  works  in  the 
house  and  in  the  fields,  planting  corn  and  tobacco,  gardening, 
making  brick,  building,  sawing  and  other  kinds  of  husbandry, 
so  sudden  was  the  cruel  execution  that  few  or  none  dis- 
cerned the  weapon  or  the  blow  that  brought  them  to  de- 
struction." 

Six  members  of  the  Council  were  killed.  The  reported 
list  shows,  however,  only  the  names  of  four — George  Thorpe, 
Captain  Nathaniel  Powell,  John  Berkeley  and  Samuel  Macock. 
It  is  argued  that  the  other  two  must  have  been  John  Rolfe 
and  Michael  Lapworth,  as  they  unmistakably  died  about  this 
time,  and  as  the  other  members  of  the  Council  are  all  ac- 
counted for. 

When  the  night  of  that  dreadful  day  fell,  three  hundred 
and  forty-seven  persons  had  been  slain.  Of  the  twenty-four 
people  at  Falling  Creek  only  a  single  boy  and  girl  escaped. 
Around  Henrico  settlement  more  than  eighty  met  their  death. 
Indeed,  one  report  declares  that  so  many  as  a  hundred  and 
eighteen  were  killed  at  this  place.  George  Thorpe,  one  of 
the  most  useful  men  in  the  colony,  and  one  of  the  most  de- 
voted friends  the  Indians  had,  in  spite  of  his  warm  interest 
in  the  old  Indian  emperor,  and  though  warned  by  his  ser- 
vants, whom  he  refused  to  believe,  was  killed  and  his  body 
shamefully  mutilated  by  the  savages.  At  Appomattox, 
Flower  de  Hundred,  Macock,  Westover,  Powell's  Brook  and 
Martin-Brandon  there  was  the  same  story  of  destruction 
and  slaughter.  In  some  instances  settlers  were  able  to  de- 
fend their  homes  and  to  beat  off  their  assailants.     At  Martin's 


i82  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA. 

Hundred  seventy-three  were  butchered.  Very  curious  in- 
deed is  the  report  that  near  Martin's  Hundred  there  was  a 
small  family  who  knew  nothing  of  the  massacre  until  after 
two  days  had  passed.  Not  many  were  killed  on  the  Eastern 
Shore,  and  this  is  attributed  to  the  fact  that  the  "laughing 
King"  could  not  be  induced  to  join  m  the  "general  combina- 
tion against  the  English,  which  otherwise  might  have  com- 
pleted the  ruin  of  the  colony."  This  attitude  of  the  "laugh- 
ing King"  kept  from  the  Eastern  Shore  settlements  Indians 
from  remoter  tribes.  Save  for  the  revelation  of  Chanco,  the 
Indian  convert  at  Jamestown,  the  slaughter  would  have  been 
universal.  He  notified  his  master,  for  whom  he  had  great 
affection  and  from  whom  he  had  received  much  kindness, 
that  the  blow  was  going  to  fall  the  next  morning.  The 
warning  had  come  too  late,  however,  to  be  widely  circulated. 
Men  were  immediately  sent  out  to  warn  the  neighboring  set- 
tlements, but  there  was  not  sufficient  time  for  them  to  cover 
more  than  a  circuit  of  five  miles  from  Jamestown. 

"That  God  had  put  it  into  the  heart  of  the  converted  In- 
dian to  reveal  the  conspiracy  by  which  means  Jamestown 
and  many  colonists  were  preserved  from  their  treacheries, 
was  regarded  as  the  most  exquisite  incident  in  the  life  of 
the  colony.  For  more  than  three  hundred  of  ours  died  by 
these  pagan  infidels,  yet  thousands  of  ours  were  saved  by 
means  of  one  of  them  alone  whicli  was  made  a  Christian. 
Blessed  be  God  forever  Whose  mercy  endureth  forever. 
Blessed  be  God  Whose  mercy  is  above  His  justice  and  far 
above  His  works ;  Who  brought  this  deliverance  whereby 
their  souls  escaped  even  as  a  bird  out  of  the  snare  of  the 
fowler." 

Toward  the  late  evening  of  that  horrible  day  a  single  boat 
ret  out  from  Jamestown,  under  the  command  of  the  wise 
and  good  Governor  Yeardley,  to  go  as  far  as  Flower  de  Hun- 


MASSACRE  AND   REVENGE.  183 

dred,  "trying  to  save  such  people  who  might  have  lain 
vi^ounded." 

At  the  time  lof  the  massacre  it  is  said  that  there  were 
two  English  ships  anchored  at  Jamestown,  one  also  anchored 
somewhere  on  the  Pamunkey  River.  None  aboard  these 
ships  were  molested,  neither  were  they  in  a  position  to  be 
of  any  great  service  in  the  dreadful  conflict  of  that  day. 

Immediately  steps  were  taken  to  discover  the  extent  of 
the  damage  inflicted  and  to  safeguard  the  lives  of  those  who 
had  been  spared  in  the  scattered  plantations.  It  was  thought 
best  to  call  in  the  settlers  upon  the  out-lying  plantations  and 
establish  them  in  the  immediate  neighborhood  of  Jamestown. 
The  property  of  the  various  plantations  having  been  de- 
stroyed, their  cattle  driven  off,  and  foodstuffs  stolen  or 
burned,  it  was  necessary  that  something  be  done  immediately 
to  procure  subsistence  for  the  settlers  who  remained.  One 
of  the  English  ships  was  immediately  dispatched  to  the  Bar- 
badoes  to  secure  supplies.  This  ship  returned  promptly 
later  in  the  season,  loaded  with  supplies,  which  made  it  rea- 
sonably certain  that  the  colonists  could  pass  through  the 
ensuing  winter  safely. 

Order  having  been  restored,  The  Sea  Flower,  an  English 
vessel  then  in  port,  was  dispatched  to  England  to  bear  the 
sorrowful  tidings  of  the  great  disaster.  The  Governor  and 
Council  sent  a  special  communication  to  the  London  Com- 
pany, and  letters  were  sent  from  Sir  George  Sandys  the  poet, 
George  Harrison  and  others,  telling  of  the  massacre.  Daniel 
Gookin  went  over  with  others  especially  to  relate  in  person 
the  story  of  the  great  disaster,  "how  whilst  all  their  affairs 
were  sure  of  success  and  such  intercourse  of  families  as  if 
the  Indians  and  themselves  had  been  one  nation,  the  treach- 
erous nation,  after  five  years  of  peace,  by  a  general  combina- 
tion in  one  day  plotted  to  subvert  the  whole  colony  and  at 


i84  COLONIAL   VIRGINIA. 

one  instant  of  time,  though  our  several  plantations  were  one 
hundred  and  forty  miles  up  one  river  and  on  both  sides." 
In  their  communication  to  the  company  the  Governor  and 
Council  related  what  they  had  already  tried  to  do  to  safe- 
guard the  interests  of  the  colony,  what  things  they  had  in 
mind  to  perform,  and  what  requests  they  desired  to  make 
upon  the  company.  It  was  stated  in  this  communication 
that  their  conviction  was  that  the  main  settlement  had  bet- 
ter be  removed  from  Jamestown  to  some  other  place  that 
might  be  more  easily  and  more  strongly  fortified.  They 
asked  that  they  would  send  them  especially  an  engineer  and 
some  provisions  and  a  supply  of  implements  of  war,  "all 
which  being  specially  done,  the  plantation  will  suddenly  be 
in  a  far  more  safer,  happier  and  flourishing  estate  than  ever 
it  was  before." 

The  company's  answer  to  this  communication  was  an 
expression  of  sympathy  and  a  cheerful  word  of  encourage- 
ment, coupled  with  advice  as  to  their  future  treatment  of 
the  Indians  and  with  the  promise  of  the  needed  supplies  and 
support.  "The  calamities  that  have  befallen  do  much  grieve, 
but  do  no  whit  daunt  us  for  we  see  no  danger  but  rather  ad- 
vantage to  be  met  thereby  as  we  cannot  but  think  the  seed- 
ing of  this  blood  will  be  the  seed  of  the  plantation  for  the  ad- 
dition of  price  hath  much  endeared  the  purchase." 

It  was  advised  that  the  armor  furnished  by  the  King 
should  be  made  the  beginning  of  a  public  armory  to  the 
colony  as  a  perpetual  testimony  of  His  Majesty's  royal  bounty 
and  favor.  The  fact  that  a  part  of  this  armor  sent  by  His 
Majesty's  royal  favor  was  out  of  date  and  unusable  in  any 
serious  conflict,  and  that  the  barrels  of  powder  sent  by  the 
King's  favor  were  not  a  gift,  but  a  loan,  must  have  taken 
the  unction  out  of  this  exhortation  from  the  London  Com- 
pany.     Captain  John   Smith,   then  residing  in   England,  of- 


MASSACRE   AND   REVENGE.  185 

fered  to  go  over  to  Virginia  and  subdue  the  Indians,  but  the 
London  Company  did  not  accept  of  his  offer. 

If  the  Indians  imagined  that  on  account  of  the  long  delay 
there  was  to  be  no  retaliation  on  the  part  of  the  English, 
their  minds  were  destined  to  be  most  cruelly  disabused.  The 
delay  had  been  caused  by  the  wise  effort  to  protect  them- 
selves from  further  attack  and  to  make  provision  against 
the  coming  winter.  But  when  these  things  were  accom- 
plished, most  serious  preparations  were  made  for  inflicting 
punishment  upon  the  savages  for  their  treachery  and  bar- 
barity. 

Sir  George  Yeardley  was  placed  in  charge  of  the  cam- 
paign as  the  commanding  officer  of  the  English  forces. 
"George  Sandys  fell  upon  the  Tappahatonaks,  opposite  James- 
town, in  several  expeditions.  Sir  George  Yeardley  fell  upon 
the  Wyanottes,  Captain  Powell  fell  upon  the  Chickahominics, 
and  Captain  John  West  sought  out  the  Tanx-Powhatans." 
Everywhere  the  Indians  fled  before  the  English.  There  were: 
really  not  so  many  slaughtered  as  might  have  been  imagined, 
but  their  homes  were  destroyed  and  their  property  confis- 
cated. It  was  determined  by  the  end  of  August  to  make 
war  upon  Opechancanough  with  five  hundred  men,  "hoping 
by  God's  help  this  winter  to  clear  the  country  of  him  and 
so  set  the  colony  in  a  far  better  estate  than  it  was  ever  be- 
f/ore."  "And  thus  the  massacre  will  result  in  the  speedy  ad- 
vancement of  the  colony  and  much  to  the  benefit  of  all  those 
who  shall  hereafter  come  thither. ' 

In  the  fall  Yeardley  went  down  the  river  and  drove  out 
the  Nansemondas  and  the  Warrasskoyacks.  He  drove  them 
from  their  homes  and  captured  their  corn.  He  returned  up 
the  river  by  way  of  Kiccowtan  and  then  went  up  the  Pamuu" 
key  to  the  chief  seat  of  Opechancanough. 

These  warlike  expeditions  continued  from  time  to  time 
until  peace  was  established  in  1632. 


t86  colonial   VIRGINIA: 

It  was  a  cruel  massacre ;  and  it  was  a  long  and  cruel  re- 
taliation. It  was  easy  enough  for  the  Englishmen  in  their 
comfortable  homes  in  England  to  complain  that  this  retalia- 
tion was  filled  unnecessarily  with  cruelty  and  wrong.  They, 
in  a  comfortable  environment,  were  dealing  with  a  theory ; 
the  white  settlers  of  Virginia  were  facing  dreadful  conditions. 
And  when  we  look  back  across  the  lapse  of  three  centuries, 
the  conflict  seems  to  have  been  inevitable  and  the  retaliation 
inexorably  necessary. 

Among  the  disastrous  results  in  the  colony  was  the  post- 
ponement of  enterprises  that  had  been  launched  with  great 
enthusiasm.  Cherished  plans  with  reference  to  the  establish- 
ment of  an  educational  institution  at  Henrico  were  bting 
rapidly  realized,  and  if  there  could  have  been  a  few  more 
years  of  prosperity  and  peace,  the  institution  would  doubt- 
less have  been  founded  upon  a  substantial  basis.  Bat  the 
massacre  seemed  almost  to  have  utterly  dissipated  all  plans 
in  that  direction.  It  is  true  that  the  London  Company  sent 
over  a  successor  to  ]\Ir.  Thorpe,  but  do  what  he  might,  he 
found  it  impossible  to  stimulate  any  interest  in  the  enter- 
prise which  the  people  had  once  been  so  enthusiastic  about. 
Not  until  the  founding  of  William  and  Alary  College  was 
tliere  realized  anything  like  the  early  anticipations  and  plans 
of  the  settlers  with  regard  to  an  institution  of  learning.  And 
even  then  more  thought  was  had  for  the  education  of  their 
own  sons,  than  of  the  children  of  the  aborigines. 

And  so,  too,  the  early  zeal  in  connection  with  the  con- 
version of  the  Indian  to  Christianity  died  out  after  the  mas- 
sacre. Some  years  before  the  Reverend  Jonas  Stockton  had 
declared  it  to  be  his  conviction  that  it  was  useless  to  under- 
take to  convert  the  Indian  until  priests  and  ancients  were  put 
tjo  the  sword.  There  were  very  many  now  who  looked  upon 
this  utterance  as  being  wise  and  true.     The  truth  is,  except 


MASSACRE   AND   REVENGE.  187 

in  rare  instances,  their  main  thought  of  the  Indian  was  to  be 
rid  of  him  at  the  earliest  possible  moment.  And  while  there 
were  individual  instances  where  the  old  zeal  for  the  conver- 
sion of  the  Indian  remained,  it  could  not  be  said  that  there 
was  any  general  interest  in  the  matter  of  his  evangelization. 

There  were,  likewise,  unfortunate  delays  in  the  industrial 
development  of  the  community.  The  ironworks  at  Falling 
Creek,  under  the  superintendence  of  ]\Ir.  Berkeley,  were  aban- 
doned, when  there  was  every  promise  that  they  might  be 
worked  successfully.  At  various  times  efforts  were  made 
to  rehabilitate  the  works,  but  never  was  there  any  chance  of 
such  success  as  was  promised  at  the  time  of  the  massacre. 

In  other  respects,  doubtless,  the  massacre  had  a  whole- 
some influence  upon  the  settlers.  They  learned  the  lesson 
of  interdependence.  They  were  made  to  feel  that  the  dangers 
to  which  they  were  liable  were  common  dangers,  and  that 
they  must  stand  together  If  their  lives  and  property  were  to 
be  safeguarded.  It  can  scarcely  be  doubted  but  that  there 
was  a  solidarity  among  the  settlers  after  the  massacre  that 
never  existed  before. 

The  most  astounding  phase  of  the  whole  transaction  is 
that  the  colonists  were  so  little  discouraged.  While  there 
were  propositions  that  Jamestown  be  removed  to  a  locality 
more  easily  fortified,  there  were  no  suggestions  that  the 
whole  enterprise  of  colonization  be  given  over.  With  extra- 
ordinary courage  they  set  themselves  to  that  rearrangement 
and  readaptation  that  should  guarantee  more  surely  their 
future. 

The  communication  which  was  sent  to  the  London  Com- 
pany disclosing  the  tidings  of  the  dreadful  massacre  had  the 
ring  of  high  hope  and  of  dauntless  courage,  and  in  answer 
the  brave  Englishmen  of  the  London  Company  reached 
across  the  seas  and  grasped  the  hands  of  their  brotliers  on 


i88  COLONIAL   VIRGINIA. 

the  western  shores  in  a  new  pledge  and  covenant  of  loyalty 
and  devotion  in  the  establishment  of  American  colonization. 
Some  one  has  said  that  it  was  the  John  Bull  in  the  Eng-lish- 
men  that  inspired  the  great  movement,  and  it  was  the  John 
Bull  that  maintained  it  and  brought  it  to  successful  realiza- 
tion. 

Except  in  one  or  two  other  separated  events,  the  Indians 
of  Virginia  were  rarely  aggressive  in  forcing  any  conflict 
upon  the  settlers.  For  a  score  of  years,  in  the  main,  the 
English  settlers  were  the  aggressors  m  every  conflict. 

Opechancanough  was  still  alive  m  1644.  He  was  now 
nearly  one  hundred  years  old,  and  had  lost  the  vigor  and 
strength  of  his  early  manhood.  So  wasted  had  he  become 
that  he  could  not  open  his  eyes,  and  had  to  be  carried  about 
upon  a  litter.  And  yet  the  old  man's  recollection  of  the  past 
was  bitter  and  his  spirit  vengeful.  His  courage  remained 
undaunted  to  the  last,  and  the  long  brooding  over  the  treat- 
ment his  people  had  received  at  the  hands  of  the  English 
settlers  led  him  to  one  last  desperate  resolution  to  make  war 
again  on  the  English.  Whatever  could  have  induced  the  old 
chief  to  believe  that  there  was  any  chance  of  success  no 
one  could  imagine.  It  was  reported,  however,  that  he  had 
been  told  of  the  civil  war  then  in  progress  in  England,  an»l 
that  now  was  the  time  or  never  to  root  out  Englishmen.  It 
is  further  sought  to  explain  the*  action  of  the  old  chief  by 
suggesting  as  a  ground  for  it  the  fact  that  Sir  John  Harvey 
was  encroaching  upon  the  territory  set  apart  for  the  Indians. 
It  is  to  be  doubted  whether  either  of  these  had  any  influence 
at  all  upon  the  old  man.  It  looks  very  much  as  though  it 
was  an  instance  of  that  vengeful  spirit  of  the  savage  that 
remembered  everything  and  forgot  nothing  that  had  to  do 
with  any  injury  endured  and  suffered.  However  it  was,  he 
suddenly   threw   himself  upon   the   settlers   along  the   upper 


MASSACRE   AND   REVENGE.  189 

banks  of  the  York  and  Pamunkey  Rivers,  and  before  the 
English  could  rally  their  forces  nearly  three  hundred  of  the 
settlers  were  slaughtered.  Berkeley,  who  was  then  at  the 
head  of  affairs  at  Jamestown,  got  together  a  body  of  horse- 
men and  marched  rapidly  to  the  scene  and  routed  the  Indians 
at  every  point  and  captured  the  old  chief.  He  was  carried 
on  his  litter  to  Jamestown.  It  was  said  that  it  was  the  pur- 
pose of  Berkeley  to  transport  him  to  England,  but  this  in- 
dignity was  spared  the  old  chief.  The  fire  of  his  anger  burned 
fiercely  until  the  very  last.  The  crowds  gathering  around 
him  and  staring  curiously  at  him  greatly  offended  his  sense 
of  propriety  and  dignity,  and  he  cried  out  to  Berkeley  that 
if  it  had  been  his  fortune  to  take  Sir  William  Berkeley 
prisoner,  he  would  have  disdained  to  make  "a  show  of  him." 
Soon  afterwards  he  was  shot  in  the  back  by  some  one  having 
charge  of  him,  doubtless  to  avenge  some  personal  spite.  He 
died  of  this  wound,  and  thus  passed  away  the  most  relent- 
less as  well  as  the  most  able  enemy  of  the  settlers  among  the 
aborigines.  And  doubtless  with  him  passed  away  every 
reasonable  hope  among  the  Indians  that  they  should  ever  be 
able  to  regain  the  land  from  which  they  had  been  driven  by 
these  first  English  settlers  in  the  wilderness  of  the  new  con- 
tinent. By  the  time  of  Bacon's  Rebellion  the  Indians  were 
practically  driven  from  Tidewater  Virginia,  and  as  the  set- 
tlements moved  westward  the  Indians  were  likewise  pushed 
back.  So  far  as  Virginia  is  concerned,  the  Indians  made 
their  last  stand  at  Point  Pleasant,  on  the  Ohio  River,  in  1774, 
of  which  something  will  be  said  in  a  subsequent  chapter. 
To-day  the  Virginia  Indians  are  represented  by  a  small  hand- 
ful of  the  Pamunkey  tribe  residing  on  Indian  Neck,  in  King 
William  county. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 
PLANTING  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  WILDERNESS. 

In  our  study  of  the  reasons  for  colonization  the  reHgious 
motive  was  seen  to  have  prevailed  Vvith  varying  degrees  of 
intensity.  In  the  charter  granted  to  the  London  Company 
it  was  said  "so  noble  a  work  might,  by  the  Providence  lOf 
Almighty  God,  hereafter  tend  to  the  glory  of  His  Divine 
Majesty  by  propagating  the  Christian  religion  to  such  peo- 
ple as  yet  live  in  darkness,"  and  a  royal  ordinance  was  added 
"that  the  word  and  the  service  of  God  should  be  preached, 
planted  and  used  not  only  in  said  colonies,  but  as  much  as 
might  be  among  the  savages  bordering  among  them  accord- 
ing to  the  rites  and  doctrines  of  the  Church  of  England." 

The  religious  idea  was  present  in  much  of  the  planning 
of  the  company  with  reference  to  the  welfare  of  the  colonists. 
In  all  their  discussions  there  was  in  evidence  a  most  pious 
purpose  and  an  earnest  desire  to  have  Divine  guidance  and 
assistance  in  their  effort  to  plant  a  church  in  the  wilderness. 
In  keeping  with  this  spirit  it  was  provided,  in  1621,  that  there 
should  be  an  annual  sermon  before  the  general  court.  In 
November  of  that  year  a  note  was  addressed  to  the  deputy 
treasurer  and  the  rest  of  the  company,  sent  by  an  unknown 
friend,  which  reads  as  follows: 

"You  shall  receive  here  enclosed  forty  shillings  for  a  ser- 
mon to  be  preached  before  the  Virginia  Company  this  Mich- 
aelmas term  and  before  the  quarter  qourt  day.  The  place 
I  leave  to  your  company's  appointment.     Also  I  desire  that 

190 


THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  WILDERNESS.        191 

Mr.  Davenport  may  preach  the  lirst  sermon  of  the  com- 
pany's appomtment.  I  will,  if  God  permit,  make  a  perpetuity 
of  this  kind;  so  beseeching^  your  ^ood  acceptance  of  this  small 
mite  and  also  that  you,  Mr.  Deputy,  perform  your  promise 
in  Qoncealing-  my  name,  I  take  my  leave  and  rest,  as  daily. 
(Signed)  "ORATOR  FOR  VIRGINIA." 

The  offer  was  accepted,  and  Mr.  Davenport  preached  the 
first  annual  sermon  before  the  company  in  1621.  It  is  worth 
while  to  note  in  passing-  that  this  same  Mr.  Davenport  be- 
came one  of  the  leading  pastors  of  the  Puritans  in  New  Eng- 
land, and  served  the  church  at  New  Haven,  Connecticut. 

The  following  year  it  was  agreed  that  the  dean  of  St. 
Paul's  should  preach  the  sermon,  St.  Michael's  Church,  in 
Cornhill,  was  appointed  as  the  place.  It  was  also  agreed  that 
after  the  sermon  a  supper  should  be  served  as  had  been  done 
the  year  before.  John  Dunn,  who  was  the  dean  of  St.  Paul's, 
preached  the  sermon,  which  evidently  was  one  of  great  power. 
He  exhorted,  "Be  you  a  light  to  the  Gentiles  that  sat  in  dark- 
ness !  Be  you  content  to  carry  Him  over  the  seas  who  dried 
up  one  Red  Sea  for  His  faithful  people  and  hath  poured  out 
another  Red  Sea,  His  own  blood  for  them  and  us !  Preach 
to  them  doctrinally,  preach  to  them  practically.  Enamour 
them  with  your  justice  and  your  stability  but  inflame  them 
with  your  Godliness  and  religion." 

On  account  of  factions  that  were  developed  in  the  com- 
pany, and  on  account  of  the  troubles  with  King  James,  it 
was  thought  best  to  omit  the  annual  sermon  of  1623,  although 
the  offer  from  the  unknown  friend  was  repeated. 

There  is  evidence  that  even  the  adventurers  who  had  come 
lo  the  American  continent  before  Jamestown  was  established, 
were  actuated  in  many  instances  by  very  high  purpose  to  ex- 
tend the  church.     Hariot,  in  his  account  of  his  experiences 


192  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA. 

when  he  came  over  to  Roanoke  Island,  said :  "Many  times, 
and  in  every  town  where  I  came,  according  as  I  was  able  to, 
I  made  declarations  of  the  contents  of  the  Bible  that  therein 
was  set  forth  the  true  and  only  God  and  His  mighty  works, 
and  therein  was  contained  the  true  doctrine  of  salvation 
through  Christ,  with  many  particularities  of  miracles  and 
chief  points  of  religion  as  I  was  then  able  to  utter  and  thought 
fit  for  the  time." 

It  ought  to  be  remembered,  to  the  credit  of  Lord  Raleigh's 
memory,  that  when  he  surrendered  to  the  company  the  char- 
ter that  he  had  received  from  the  Queen,  he  accompanied  the 
transfer  with  a  donation  of  one  hundred  pounds  "for  the  pro- 
pagation of  the  Christian  religion  in  Virginia" — "the  first 
offering"  (said  Mr.  Anderson,  in  his  "Colonial  Church  His- 
tory,"), "as  far  as  I  can  learn,  avowedly  made  by  Englishmen 
for  such  a  purpose." 

Mr.  Hakluyt  declared  that  he  was  interested  in  coloniza- 
tion "for  the  glory  of  God  and  the  saving  of  the  souls  of  poor 
and  blinded  infidels." 

It  seems,  however,  that  the  work  of  the  company  in  this 
direction  was  entirely  apart  and  separate  from  ecclesiastical  au- 
thorities and  the  sanction  of  the  Church  of  England.  There  is 
no  evidence  that  the  church,  as  such,  at  the  beginning  of  this 
colonization  movement,  authorized  or  set  on  foot  any  agencies 
looking  to  the  religious  welfare  of  the  colonists  or  to  the 
evangelization  of  the  aborigines.  The  selection  and  sending 
out  of  ministers  seems  to  have  been  lefi  entirely  to  the  Lon- 
don Company.  Their  appointments  of  ministers  were  usually 
made  after  commendation  by  some  one  of  their  own  number, 
and  after  "the  committee"  was  satisfied  with  the  character 
and  fitness  of  the  minister.  It  was  their  custom  to  have 
preached  before  them  trial  sermons  so  that  there  might  be  a 
practical  demonstration  of  a  minister's  ability  to  preach. 


THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  WILDERNESS.         193 

In  December,  1620,  Captain  RxDger  Smith  was  about  to 
sail  with  a  party.  It  was  moved  "in  behalf  of  a  young  scholar 
desirous  to  go  with  him  this  present  voyage,  that  he  might 
be  admitted  to  preach  to  the  people  now  sent."  The  com- 
mittee agreed  "hereafter  to  give  Iiim  a  text  to  preach  from 
a  fortnight  hence,  in  the  handling  whereof  if  they  found  him 
a  successful  scholar  he  should  be  entertained  accordingly." 
This  seems  not  to  have  been  unusual,  for  the  following  year 
a  Mr.  Leat,  who  had  been  preaching  in  Newfoundland,  wanted 
to  go  to  the  Virginia  plantations,  and  was  commended  by  a 
prominent  merchant  of  London.  "He  would  put  the  com- 
pany to  no  charge  except  for  necessaries  and  such  books  as 
would  be  useful  to  him,  which  request  the  company  thought 
very  reasonable  and  referred  him  to  the  general  committee 
to  be  treated,  and  concluded  with  touching  some  moderate 
allowances  to  be  bestowed  upon  him."  He  likewise  was  re- 
quired to  preach  a  trial  sermon  from  a  text  selected  by  the 
company,  "ninth  of  Isaiah,  second  verse." 

There  is  an  interesting  record  of  a  Mr.  Bolton,  recom- 
mended by  the  Earl  of  Southampton  as  a  minister  "for  his 
honesty  and  sufficiency  in  learning,  fit  for  a  vacant  place  in 
Virginia."  Mr.  Bolton  became  the  first  minister  on  the  East- 
ern Shore  of  Virginia.  Concerning  hin>  there  is  a  record  in 
the  minutes  of  the  Council  as  follows : 

"Whereas  it  is  ordered  by  the  Governor  and  Council  that 
Mr.  Bolton,  minister,  shall  receive  for  his  salary  this  year 
throughout,  of  the  plantations  of  the  Eastern  Shore,  ten 
pounds  of  tobacco  and  one  bushel  of  corn  for  every  planter 
and  tradesman  above  sixteen  years,  alive  at  the  crop."  Cap- 
tain Williams  was  to  execute  this  warrant  and  see  that  the 
minister's  salary  was  raised. 

From  these  quotations  there  is  plainly  borne  out  the 
statement  that  the  first  ministers  who  came  to  the  Virginia 


194  COLONIAL   VIRGINIA. 

plantations  were  sent  out  under  the  sole  direction  of  the  Lon- 
don Company.  Among-  those  who  first  came  as  ministers 
were  several  men  distingfuished  for  their  scholarly  culture 
and  for  their  genuine  piety  and  thorough  unselfishness. 
There  came  with  the  first  group  of  settlers  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Hunt,  of  a  most  sainted  and  blessed  memory,  Mr.  Ander- 
son, in  his  "Church  History,"  speaks  of  him  on  this  wise: 

"And  with  it  sailed  the  first  English  minister  who  exer- 
cised the  cure  of  souls  upon  those  shores.  The  course  of 
Robert  Hunt  was  short,  and  the  notices  of  him  were  few, 
but  they  leave  an  impression  that  the  first  English  pastor  in 
America  was  a  man  of  genuine  piety,  simplicity  and  love. 
By  him,  after  the  reconciling  of  much  dissention,  the  first 
communion  was  celebrated,  and  under  his  care  the  House  of 
Prayer  was  one  of  the  first  buildings  that  marked  the  site  of 
Jamestown."  When  he  died,  falling  at  his  post  in  the  ter- 
rible epidemic  that  came  upon  the  settlers  during  the  first 
summer,  even  the  hardened  soldiers  said  of  him :  "His  soul 
questionless  is  with  God.  An  honest,  religious  and  courage- 
ous divine,  during  whose  life  our  factions  were  often  qualified 
and  our  wants  and  greatest  extremities  so  comforted  that 
they  seem  easy  in  comparison  with  what  we  endured  after 
his  memorable  death."  The  memory  of  this  pure  and  un- 
selfish minister  of  the  New  Testament  will  forever  hallow 
and  sanctify  the  lonely  island  where  his  ashes  lie  buried,  un- 
marked, and  from  which  is  lifted  as  yet  no  monument  upon 
which  the  children  of  after  generations  may  read  the  story 
of  his  simple  faith  and  devotion. 

The  successor  to  Mr.  Hunt  at  Jai-^estown  was  the  Rev. 
Richard  Buck,  who  canie  in  the  Sea  Venture  with  the  party 
that  had  been  wrecked  on  the  Bermudas.  He  found,  on  his 
arrival,  in  1610,  that  the  church  building  that  had  been  erected 
by  Mr,  Hunt  was  well-nigh  in  ruins,  and  seemed  to  be  in 


THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  WILDERNESS.         195 

disuse.  The  church  was  immediately  renovated  and  repaired, 
and  Mr.  Buck  took  up  the  regular  work  of  the  church.  "He 
was  esteemed  a  very  good  preacher."  It  was  he  who  opened 
with  prayer  the  first  Legislative  Assembly.  He  died  in  the 
year  1623. 

In  1610  there  came  a  party  from  the  Netherlands,  under 
the  direction  of  Sir  Thomas  Dale,  and  made  a  settlement  near 
Henrico.  The  Rev.  Alexander  Whittaker  came  as  the  chap- 
lain of  his  party.  He  was  the  son  of  a  distinguished  Puritan 
lecturer  of  Cambridge  University.  He  was  himself  a  gradu- 
ate of  Cambridge,  and  had  been  pastor  for  a  number  of  years 
in  north  England.  It  seems  that  he  had  a  competency  of 
his  own.  His  friends  had  no  sympathy  with  his  purpose  to 
become  a  missionary  in  Virginia,  and  did  what  they  could  to 
dissuade  him  from  carrying  out  this  plan.  Croshaw  says  of 
him :  "He,  without  any  persuasion  but  God  and  his  own  heart, 
did  volunta'-ily  leave  his  warm  nest  and  to  the  wonder  of  his 
kinsmen  and  amazement  of  those  who  knew  him,  undertook 
this  hardest,  and  in  my  judgment,  heroic  resolution  to  go  to 
Virginia  and  help  to  bear  the  name  of  God  to  the  Gentiles." 
He  seems  to  have  been  a  man  of  exceeding  fine  spirit  and 
culture,  and  of  very  great  consecration  to  his  work.  He  was 
the  author  of  a  paper  entitled  "Good  News  From  Virginia." 
It  was  an  effort  to  stir  up  interest  in  Virginia  as  a  field  for 
missionary  operations.  It  was  a  plain  and  brusque  document 
in  which  he  was  at  no  pains  lo  temper  his  thought  and  utter- 
ances. He  alluded  to  the  Indians  as  "naked  slaves  of  the 
devil."  He  says  that  one  of  the  reasons  why  good  people 
should  bestir  themselves  in  zeal  for  religious  work  in  the 
colony  is  that  "the  devil  is  a  capital  enemy  against  it  and  con- 
tinually seeketh  to  hinder  the  prosperity  and  good  proceeding 
of  it."  He  made  an  especial  appeal  to  the  rich  that  they  de- 
^■ote  their  means  to  the  spread  of  ijie  gospel  in  America,  call- 


196  COLONIAL   VIRGINIA. 

inof  attention  to  the  great  waste  of  money  on  the  part  of  the 
rich.  "Some  make  no  scruple  at  it  to  spend  yearly  a  hundred, 
two,  three,  five  hundred  pounds  and  much  more  upon  dogs, 
hawks  and  hounds  and  such  sports,  which  will  not  give  five 
hundred  pence  to  the  relief  of  God's  poor  members.  Others 
will  not  care  to  lose  two  or  three  thousand  pounds  in  a  night 
at  cards  and  dice,  and  yet  suffer  poor  Lazarus  to  perish  in  the 
street  for  want  of  their  charitable  alms." 

Mr.  Whittaker  lived  at  Martin's  Hundred,  and  was  the  de- 
voted friend  of  Governor  Dale,  and  with  Sir  Thomas  was 
greatly  interested  in  the  conversion  of  Pocahontas.  He  it 
was  who  officiated  at  her  baptism.  Mr.  Argall,  in  a  letter  to 
the  Virginia  Company,  dated  9th  of  June,  1617,  states  that 
Mr.  Whittaker  was  drowned,  but  gives  no  information  as  to 
the  circumstances.  By  his  wisdom,  consecration  and  self- 
sacrifice  he  wion  for  himself  the  title  of  "The  Apostle  of  Vir- 
ginia." 

There  is  every  evidence  that  at  the  outset  the  early  set- 
tlers, supported  by  the  London  Company,  took  a  very  great 
interest  in  the  religious  life  of  the  colony,  and  were  really  sin- 
cere in  their  purpose  to  evangelize  the  aborigines.  Bishop 
Meade  quoted  in  his  "History  of  Old  Churches  and  Families 
in  Virginia"  the  following  as  the  order  of  the  day  among  the 
first  settlers: 

"The  men  were  divided  into  groups  who  worked  on  alter- 
nate days.  The  gang  for  the  day  was  thus  delivered  to  the 
masters  and  overseers  of  the  work  appointed,  who  kept  them 
at  their  labor  until  nine  or  ten  o'clock,  according  to  the  season 
of  the  year,  and  then  at  the  beat  of  the  drum  they  were 
marched  to  the  church,  where  they  would  hear  some  discourse 
(Or  some  service.  After  dinner  they  rested  until  two  or  three 
o'clock,  and  at  the  beat  of  the  drum  the  captain  drew  them 
forth  to  be  taken  to  their  work  until  five  or  six  o'clock,  when, 


THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  WILDERNESS.         197 

at  the  beat  of  the  drum,  they  were  again  marched  to  the 
church."  Bishop  Meade  quoted  a  prayer  which  he  said  was 
probably  written  by  Mr.  Whittaker,  a  prayer  for  the  mprning 
and  evening  use  of  the  watch  or  guard,  to  be  offered  up  either 
by  the  captain  himself  or  by  one  of  his  principal  men  or  offi- 
cers. The  prayer  closes  in  this  way :  "And  here,  O  Lord,  we 
do  upon  the  knees  of  our  hearts,  offer  Thee  the  sacrifice  and 
praise  and  thanksgiving  for  that  Thou  hast  moved  our  hearts 
to  undertake  the  performance  of  Your  blessed  work  with  che 
hazard  of  our  persons,  and  hath  moved  the  hearts  of  so  many 
hundreds  of  our  natives  to  assist  with  means  and  provision 
and  with  their  holy  prayers.  Lord,  look  mercifully  upon  them 
all  and  for  that  portion  of  their  substance  which  they  willingly 
offer  for  Thy  honor  and  service  in  this  action,  recompense 
it  to  them  and  theirs  and  reward  them  sevenfold  with  bless- 
ings. Lord,  bless  England,  our  sweet,  native  country.  Save 
it  from  popery ;  this  land  from  heathenism,  and  both  from 
atheism.  And  Lord,  hear  their  prayers  for  us,  us  for  them, 
and  Christ  Jesus,  our  glorious  Master,  for  us  all.  Amen." 
It  will  be  observed  that  this  is  not  taken  from  the  Book  of 
Common  Prayer.  Bishop  Meade  calls  attention  to  the  fact 
that  the  fathers  of  the  Episcopal  Church  in  America  did  not 
feel  themselves  violating  any  canon  oi  the  church  when  they 
made  use  of  other  written  or  extemporaneous  prayers. 

For  a  number  of  years  the  clergymen  of  the  Episcopal 
Church  had  very  little  to  do  in  the  management  of  church 
affairs.  The  vestry  seems  to  have  been  the  source  of  author- 
ity. Not  until  after  the  Revolution  was  there  an  American 
Episcopacy.  Native  American  clcrgym.en  were  obliged,  after 
receiving  their  education  in  this  country,  to  go  to  England  to 
receive  ordination.  Bishop  Aleade  may  be  quoted  as  saying, 
"The  vestries  were  the  depositories  of  power  in  Virginia.  They 
not  only  governed  the  church,  but  the  election  of  ministers. 


198  COLONIAL   VIRGINIA. 

the  laying-  of  taxes  and  the  enforcing  of  the  laws,  and  also 
made  laws  for  the  House  of  Burgesses."  The  tenure  of  of- 
fice was  very  uncertain  and  depended  upon  the  judg^ment  and 
oftentimes  the  caprice  of  the  vestrymen.  In  vain  were  ap- 
peals made  by  the  clergymen  to  the  Bishop  of  London  that 
this  state  of  things  might  be  relieved  and  remedied,  but  there 
was  no  interference  on  the  part  of  the  ecclesiastical  authori- 
ties in  England  with  the  regime  into  which  the  church  had 
fallen  in  America.  The  vestries  continued  to  call  the  pastors 
when  it  suited  their  pleasure,  and  to  dismiss  them,  paying  lit- 
tle regard  either  to  the  wishes  of  the  people  or  the  desires  of 
the  minister.  Air.  Anderson,  in  his  "History  of  Colonial 
Churches,"  gave  this  state  of  things  as  one  of  the  reasons 
why  the  church  made  such  slow  progress  in  the  colonies,  that 
the  right  to  govern  itself  had  been  surrendered  to  the  State 
authorities.  He  may  be  quoted  as  saying,  "For  the  want  of 
this  completeness  of  ecclesiastical  organization  no  legal  es- 
tablishments, no  endowments  or  salutes  can  ever  compensate. 
The  church  must  have  in  itself  its  own  power  of  self-inspec- 
tion and  direction.  It  must  have  in  it  a  voice  whose  author- 
ity it  will  respect,  and  demand  that  the  world  should  respect 
as  the  expression  of  its  own  mind.  Spoiled  of  its  own  pro- 
per means  of  action  and  centre  of  union,  it  must  in  process 
of  time,  lose  its  energy  of  spirit  and  dignity  of  character,  and 
sink  as  the  church  of  Virginia  sank  amidst  its  tithes  of  to- 
bacco, its  appointment  by  vestries,  its  visitation  by  com- 
manders and  its  episcopacy  of  governors."  Not  until  1771 
was  there  even  proposed  any  organized  movement  looking  to 
the  establishment  of  an  American  episcopate.  So  varied  were 
the  views  and  so  confused  the  times  that  it  was  impossible 
to  arrive  at  any  pronounced  consensus  of  opinion  and  peti- 
tion. So  the  whole  matter  w^as  held  in  abeyance  until  after 
the  War  of  the  Revolution. 


THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  WILDERNESS.         199 

Up  to  the  close  of  the  seventeenth  century  the  Church  of 
England  presented  the  only  outward  and  organized  expres- 
sion of  the  religious  thought  and  life  of  the  colony.  With 
the  close  of  the  seventeenth  century  and  the  beginning  of  the 
eighteenth  century,  influences  that  had  long  been  more  or 
less  vaguely  felt  began  to  be  crystallized  into  definite  forms  of 
church  life,  and  from  that  time  on  until  the  close  of  the  Revo- 
lutionary War,  the  Church  of  England  was  in  decline  in  the 
coliony  of  Virginia. 

It  will  be  interesting  to  trace  the  influences  which  were 
at  work  in  the  colonial  life  and  which  brought  such  disas- 
trous results  to  the  established  church.  The  growth  of 
democratic  ideas  had  no  little  to  do  with  the  discouragement 
of  such  forms  of  religious  life  as  were  presented  by  the  Church 
of  England,  and  with  the  encouragement  of  freer  and  more 
independent  forms  as  expressed  in  the  faith  and  the  purposes 
of  numerous  dissenting  bodies.  The  spirit  of  the  day  was 
the  spirit  of  democracy,  seeking  everywhere  emancipation 
from  old  forms  and  organizations  and  interpretation  in  sim- 
pler forms  and  freer  life.  With  little  trouble  it  might  be 
proven  that  political  tendencies  find  expression  not  only  in 
civic  institutions,  but  also  in  ecclesiastical  organisms.  And 
so  it  was  the  same  spirit  that  fought  against  the  idea  of  the 
divine  right  of  Kings  that  clamored  also  for  a  freer  demo- 
cracy in  church  life  and  forms.  The  contention  of  the  non- 
conformists and  dissenters  appealed,  therefore,  strongly  to 
the  spirit  of  the  times,  and  found  a  congenial  atmosphere  for 
the  propagation  of  its  faith  and  life. 

To  the  influence  of  the  Puritan  must  also  be  traced  the 
beginnings  of  the  decadence  of  the  Church  of  England  as  a 
leligious  form  and  power  in  the  life  of  the  colony.  The  in- 
fluence of  the  Puritan  was  subtle  and  pervasive.  The  pres- 
ence of  the  Puritan  idea  can  be  discovered  at  a  much  earlier 


20O  COLONIAL   VIRGINIA. 

date  than  is  commonly  supposed.  Attention  has  already  been 
called  to  the  fact  that  the  London  Company  was  arrogating 
to  itself  large  liberty  in  the  sending  of  clergymen  to  the  colo- 
nies. The  Rev.  Mr.  Whittaker,  of  whom  we  have  alread}' 
spoken,  was  the  son  of  a  distinguished  Puritan  lecturer  at 
Cambridge,  and  there  is  evidence  that  he  inherited  some  of 
the  spirit  of  his  non-conformist  father.  In  the  prayer  abo\e 
quoted,  and  which  is  attributed  to  his  authorship,  there  is  an 
indication  that  he  was  not  unwilling,  when  exigencies  re- 
quired, to  depart  from  the  usual  forms  of  the  church.  Sir 
Edwin  Sandys,  who  became  the  ruling  spirit  of  the  London 
Company  upon  its  reorganization  in  1619,  was  the  son  of  the 
archbishop,  who  was  not  unwilling  t<)  say  of  the  rites  and 
ceremonies  of  the  Church  of  England :  "I  have  ever  been 
and  am  presently  persuaded  that  some  of  them  be  not  so 
expedient  in  this  Church  now  but  that,  the  Church  reformed 
and  in  all  this  time  of  the  Gospel  (wherein  the  seed  of  the 
Scripture  hath  so  long  been  sown),  they  may  be  better  dis- 
used by  little  and  little  than  more  and  more  urged."  Mr. 
Neil,  in  his  "English  Colonization  of  xA.merica,"  quoting  the 
above  statement,  adds  the  followmg:  "The  son  of  such  a 
lather,  was  not  the  man  to  press  for  a  literal  conformity  to 
ecclesiastical  canons,  and  was  ready  to  encourage  any  sin- 
cere minister  of  Christ  to  take  up  his  abode  in  Virginia." 

The  extent  of  this  Puritan  influence  is  further  illustrated 
in  the  work  and  life  of  the  Bennetts,  of  whom  there  were 
several.  In  the  year  1621  a  Mr.  Edwin  Bennett,  an  influ- 
ential citizen  of  London  (who  had  been  made,  on  motion  of 
Sir  Edwin  Sandys,  a  free  member  of  the  Virginia  Company, 
on  account  of  services  he  had  rendered  in  promoting  the  in- 
terests of  the  colony,  and  especially  on  account  of  the  paper 
which  he  had  submitted  to  the  House  of  Commons  urging 
the  prohibition  of  Spanish  tobacco),  made  a  settlement  near 


Xi 


O 


CQ 


THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  WILDERNESS.        201 

the  Isle  of  Wight.  This  settlement  was  made  on  the  Nan- 
semond  River.  The  minister  accompanying  that  colony  was 
the  Rev.  William  Bennett.  He  remained  for  two  years  only. 
He  was  succeeded  by  Rev.  Henry  Jacob,  who  had  been  in 
his  youth  a  preceptor  at  Christ  Church  College,  at  Oxford, 
had  spent  some  time  visiting  Leyden  and  had  really  been 
converted  to  the  faith  of  the  Puritans,  and  who,  on  his  re- 
turn, established  the  first  independent  church  in  England. 
He  died  after  a  brief  residence  in  Virginia. 

To  this  group  of  ministers  laboring  in  the  Nansemond 
settlement  was  added  Rev.  Richard  Bennett,  a  nephew  of 
Edwin  Bennett.  In  connection  with  these  ministers  also 
labored  the  Rev.  Thomas  Harrison,  who  was  at  first  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Established  Church  and  the  chaplain  of  Lord 
Berkeley,  by  whom,  on  account  of  his  dissenting  views,  he 
was  finally  expelled  from  the  colonv.  The  settlement  at 
Nansemond  became  the  great  centre  of  the  dissenting  idea, 
and  was  most  influential  in  the  propagating  of  the  views  of 
the  dissenters  and  non-conformists. 

There  is  evidence  that  the  clergymen  took  considerable 
liberty  in  their  use  of  the  liturg^r  of  the  church,  feeling  free 
to  make  departures  therefrom  when  occasion  seemed  to  re- 
quire. There  were  present  in  the  church  from  the  beginning 
men  v/ithout  orders,  who  were  allowed  no  small  place  in  the 
service  and  work  of  the  church.  It  even  happened  that  the 
vestries  who  had  every  authorit)^  in  this  matter,  selected 
only  lay  readers  to  conduct  the  forms  of  worship  rather  than 
to  be  at  the  expense  of  securing  men  having  orders.  Were 
time  permitted  us,  there  could  be  numerous  citations  by 
which  could  be  proven  that  early  in  the  histor^^  of  the  colony, 
and  maintaining  itself  steadily,  was  the  spirit  of  the  Puritan, 
eager  to  throw  off  elaborate  forms  of  ceremonies  and  to  take 
upon  itself  simple  forms  of  faith  and  service;  so  by  the  time 


202  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA. 

the  church  was  seriously  assaulted  by  the  growing  influ- 
ence of  the  dissenters,  the  people  had  in  one  way  or  another 
been  prepared  for  a  rather  easy  transition  from  the  more 
elaborate  to  the  simpler  forms  of  church  life  and  expression. 

Nor  can  it  be  forgotten  that  the  very  persecution  heaped 
with  increasing  bitterness  upon  the  dissenters  as  they  seemed 
to  multiply  in  numbers  and  in  influence,  must  have  rebounded 
to  the  hurt  and  injury  of  the  Church  cf  England.  The  in- 
tolerant spirit  of  the  royalists  and  the  conformists  showed 
itself  early  in  the  acts  of  the  General  Assembly.  It  will  be 
recalled  that  early  in  the  history  of  the  colony,  by  formal 
action,  the  Church  of  England  became  the  established 
church  of  the  colonists,  and  the  support  of,  and  the  attend- 
ance upon,  whose  service  was  a  matter  of  duty  laid  vigorously 
upon  every  member  of  the  colony.  These  early  acts,  how- 
ever, were  not  passed  with  reference  to  any  other  forms  of 
religion,  because  at  the  outset  none  of  these  forms  were 
present  in  the  colony.  In  the  acts  of  1661  it  was  provided 
that  ministers  must  be  ordained  by  a  bishop  in  England, 
and  that  all  other  preachers  were  to  be  banished.  Every 
person  who  refused  attendance  at  the  parish  church  for  one 
Sunday  was  to  forfeit  the  payment  of  fifty  pounds  of  to- 
bacco. Every  non-conformist  was  to  be  fined  twenty  pounds 
for  a  month's  absence,  and  if  he  failed  for  a  year  to  put  in 
his  appearance  at  the  service  of  the  church,  he  was  to  be 
arrested  and  made  to  give  security  for  his  future  good  be- 
havior, or  in  lieu  thereof  to  remain  m  prison  until  he  was 
willing  to  come  to  church. 

In  "Hening's  Statutes"  there  is  recorded  the  one  hun- 
dred and  eleventh  act  of  the  Grand  Assembly  of  i66i-'62, 
which  is  as  follows : 

"Whereas  many  schismatical  persons  out  of  averseness 
to  the  orthodox  established  religion,  or  out  of  many   new 


THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  WILDERNESS.        203 

fangled  conceits  of  their  own  heretical  invention,  refuse  to 
have  their  children  baptized,  be  it  therefore  enacted  by  the 
authorities  aforesaid  that  all  persons  in  contempt  of  the 
divine  sacrament  of  baptism,  which  refuse  when  they  may 
carry  their  child  to  a  lawful  minister  in  that  county  to  have 
them  baptized,  shall  be  amerced  two  thousand  pounds  of 
tobacco,  half  to  the  informer  and  half  to  the  public." 

Every  historian  has  a  story  of  the  persecutions  heaped 
upon  the  dissenters.  Mr.  White  tells  a  story  of  a  band  of 
men  who  were  driven  from  Virginia  for  their  religious  opin- 
ions in  1634.  Mr,  Burke  tells  of  the  savage  barbarities  in- 
flicted upon  Stephenson  Reek  in  1640.  He  was  forced  "to 
stand  in  the  pillory  two  hours  with  a  label  on  his  back,  pay 
a  fine  of  fifty  pounds,  and  was  in  prison  at  the  pleasure  of 
the  Governor,  for  simply  saying  in  a  jocular  manner  that 
"His  Majesty  was  at  confession  with  my  Lord  Canterbury." 
And  so  the  dreadful  story  goes.  Mr.  James  Madison  cor- 
roborated it  all  in  a  very  strong  statement  that  he  made  m 
writing  to  a  Philadelphia  friend  in  1774:  "That  diabolical 
hell-conceived  principle  of  persecution  raged  among  them, 
and  to  their  eternal  infamy  the  clergymen  can  furnish  their 
quota  of  imps  for  such  purposes.  There  are  at  the  present 
time  in  the  adjacent  county  not  less  than  five  or  six  well- 
meaning  men  in  close  jail  for  proclaiming  their  religious  sen- 
timents, which  are  in  the  main  quite  orthodox."  It  was  in- 
evitable but  that  the  church,  in  the  mmds  of  the  people  sup- 
posed to  be  back  of  and  authorizing  these  persecutions, 
should  come  into  common  disrepute  at  a  time  when  people 
were  loving  liberty  so  ardently. 

Nor  can  it  be  doubted  but  that  the  worrcfliness  that  per- 
vaded the  church  had  much  to  do  with  its  decline  and  dis- 
favor. Not  only  were  the  lives  of  the  members  of  the  church 
in    flaglrant   contradiction   and    defiance   of    tlie   vows   they 


204  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA. 

had  taken  upon  themselves,  but  in  many  instances  even  the 
ministers  had  fallen  into  lives  of  thorough  disrepute. 

The  people  in  the  first  half  of  the  eighteenth  century 
were  living  in  the  enjoyment  of  exceeding  prosperity  and 
liberty,  and  restraints  vi^ere  thrown  off  and  the  life  of  the 
colony  was  expressing  itself  in  great  religious  indifference 
on  the  one  hand,  and  on  the  other  hand  in  glaring  immor- 
alities. 

In  1719  complaint  of  this  condition  of  things  had  been 
made  to  the  Bishop  of  London,  who  instituted  an  investiga- 
tion, but  there  was  returned  to  him  the  answer  that  no  mem- 
ber of  the  investigating  body  had  "any  personal  knowledge 
of  the  irregularities  of  any  clergyman's  life."  Good  Bishop 
Meade  does  not  hesitate  to  call  attention  to  the  fact  that 
the  phrase  "personal  knowledge"'  was  in  all  probability  a 
sheer  evasion.  There  is  much  proof  that  the  clergymen, 
along  with  the  members  of  their  parish,  played  cards,  hunted 
the  fox  and  indulged  in  drink.  Sucli  courses  were  not  looked 
upon  in  those  days  with  any  more  favor  than  they  are  at  the 
present  time.  Mr.  John  Esten  Cooke  added  most  sensibly 
this  sentence :  "What  was  even  worse,  they  had  no  small  love 
for  their  neighbors,  the   dissenters." 

The  influence,  however,  that  produced  the  most  acute 
and  positive  deflection  from  the  Church  of  England  was  that 
of  the  revival  movements  under  Whitefield  and  Methodism. 
In  1740  George  Whitefield,  who  had  been  educated  at  Ox- 
ford, and  between  whom  and  John  Wesley  a  strong  friend- 
ship sprang  up,  began  with  Mr.  Wesley  the  great  revival 
movement  that  was  destined  to  sweep  over  both  continents. 
He  was  ordained  a  deacon,  and  soon  became  a  famous 
preacher.  A  year  after  his  ordination  he  came  to  Georgia 
with  his  friend  Wesley,  at  the  invitation  of  General  Ogle- 
thorpe, to  convert  the  Indians.     His  first  visit  to  America 


THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  WILDERNESS.        205 

was  short.  It  was  on  his  second  visit  that  he  set  afoot  those 
tremendous  revival  influences  that  so  mightily  stirred  the 
religious  life  of  our  people.  And  under  the  influences  of 
this  great  movement  there  was  a  great  turning  of  the  people 
toward  the  churches,  and,  in  the  m.ain,  toward  the  churches 
of  the  dissenters,  and  in  the  tide  was  borne  many  who  had 
for  years  been  identified  with  the  Church  of  England. 

The  deflection  from  the  established  church  was  so  great, 
and  the  growth  of  dissenting  bodies  so  rapid,  that  at  the  time 
of  the  Revolution  two-thirds  of  the  population  were  members 
of  the  dissenting  churches,  mainly  of  the  Presbyterian,  Bap- 
tist and  Quaker  denominations.  It  would  be  profitable  and 
interesting  to  trace  the  movements  of  these  independent 
bodies  and  to  record  the  splendid  work  they  did  in  the  way 
of  evangelization  and  reformation,  especially  in  their  strug- 
gles for  religious  liberty,  and  the  large  part  they  played  m 
bringing  about  the  War  of  the  Revolution  and  in  carrying  it 
to  successful  issue,  but  the  limits  of  this  chapter  forbid  any 
such  elaborate  treatment. 

Out  of  the  religious  confusion  and  strife  of  these  years 
there  is  this  great  satisfaction,  that  it  was  doubtless  due  to 
these  conflicts  that  the  great  boon  of  religious  liberty  was 
achieved.  There  could  be  but  one  end  to  the  ecclesiastical 
struggle,  as  there  could  be  but  one  end  to  the  long  struggle 
for  political  freedom.  It  was  from  the  outset  in  both  cases  a 
foregone  and  inevitable  conclusion  that  the  people  and  de- 
mocracy should  ultimately  triumph.  No  people  living  in  the 
enjoym-ent  of  political  freedom  will  long  tolerate  interference 
from  any  source,  especially  in  that  particular  where  men  feel 
they  should  be  most  free.  Nor  could  it  be  possible  for  peo- 
ple to  live  in  the  enjoyment  of  religious  freedom  without 
soon  insisting  upon  the  same  prerogative  in  political  life. 

At  the  close  of  the  Revolution  steps  were  taken  to  secure 


2o6  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA. 

an  American  episcopacy,  and  in  the  year  1785  the  Rev.  Dr. 
White,  of  Philadelphia,  and  the  Rev.  Dr.  Provost,  of  New 
York,  were  sent  over  to  England  and  received  at  the  hands 
of  England's  ecclesiastical  authorities  apostolic  ordination, 
so  that  the  apostolic  succession  so  much  valued  by  the  Epis- 
copal Church  was  secured  for  the  church  henceforth  to  be 
maintained  under  American  auspices.  The  Bishop  of  London 
had  always  had  the  supervision  of  the  clergy  of  Virginia,  this 
colony  being  a  part  of  the  London  diocese,  but  in  1790  James 
Madison,  the  president  of  William  and  Mary  College,  went  to 
London  and  was  consecrated  as  Bishop  of  Virginia.  Thus 
the  established  church  passed  into  the  Episcopal  Church  of 
Virginia  in  its  religious  organization.  In  its  secular  relations 
it  was  no  longer  a  part  of  the  State,  having  been  partially  dis- 
established in  1776,  and  totally  disestablished  in  1785.  It 
now  took  its  place  along  with  the  various  dissenting  bodies, 
which  had  been  growing  into  influence  in  the  middle  of  the 
eighteenth  century  on  account  of  the  incoming  of  the  Scotch- 
Irish  and  Quakers,  and  the  growth  of  the  Baptists  and  the 
revivals  of  the  followers  of  Whitefield  and  the  Wesleys. 

Let  it  never  be  forgotten  that  it  was  to  the  Church  of 
England  on  the  new  continent,  and  to  the  faithful  men  who 
wore  its  orders  that  we  are  indebted  for  the  pronounced  re- 
ligious tone  and  influence  that  attended  the  beginnings  of 
our  national  life. 


CHAPTER  XV. 
VIRGINIA  UNDER  CHARLES  I.  AND  CROMWELLS. 

The  story  of  the  vicissitudes  of  Virginia's  growth  and 
development  is  one  of  intense  interest.  In  the  previous  chap- 
ters has  been  given  an  account  of  the  beginning  of  coloniza- 
tion, of  trade,  of  labor  problems  and  the  introduction  of 
slavery,  of  education,  of  legislation  ^nd  of  home-building. 
Firm  were  the  foundations  laid  during  the  period  of  the  Lon- 
don Company,  to  which  due  credit  has  not  always  been  given, 
because  at  times  its  management  of  the  infant  colony  was 
devoid  of  business  sense  and  its  policy  often  short-sighted. 
But  viewed  from  many  standpoints  this  company  stood  for 
the  best  political  thought  of  England,  which  was  just  begin- 
ning to  clamor  for  the  rights  of  the  individual  and  the  com- 
mon people  as  opposed  to  the  divine-right  theory  of  James 
Stuart.  The  mantle  of  the  London  Company,  after  its  aboli- 
tion by  the  quo  warranto  proceedings  of  the  King,  fell  upon 
the  colonists  themselves,  and  very  worthily  did  they  main- 
tain in  a  conservative  way  their  rights  as  English  subjects, 
and  with  it  all  a  spirit  of  loyalty  to  the  English  crown.  The 
Virginians  of  the  seventeenth  century  believed  that  they  were 
entitled  to  certain  legal  rights,  and  with  all  due  respect  to 
the  King  they  insisted  that  tbese  rights  should  be  recognized. 

Having  secured  a  legislative  Assembly  during  the  days  of 
the  London  Company,  they  insisted  after  the  abolition  of  the 
company  on  the  continuation  of  their  Assembly.  Charles  I. 
granted  their  request  and  Virginia  continued  to  grow,  gov- 

207 


2o8  COLONIAL   v^IRGINIA. 

erned  by  laws  chiefly  of  their  own  making.  The  early  days 
of  Virginia  as  a  royal  province  saw  two  excellent  Governors. 
Sir  Francis  Wyatt  and  Sir  George  Yeardley,  the  latter  for  his 
third  time  in  office.  These  men  were  adherents  of  the  liberal 
party  of  the  London  Company,  often  designated  as  the  faction 
of  Sir  Edwin  Sandys  and  the  Earl  of  Southampton.  Hence, 
so  far  as  the  colony  itself  was  concerned,  the  inhabitants  sav/ 
no  difference  in  its  management.  By  the  time  of  the  death  of 
"V'eardley,  in  1627,  its  population  had  reached  five  thousand 
souls,  distributed  among  eighteen  plantations,  chiefly  along 
the  banks  of  the  James  River.  Witli  the  death  of  Yeardley 
came  a  succession  of  Governors  who  added  nothing  to  the  de- 
velopment of  Virginia.  The  first  was  Francis  West,  a  gen- 
tleman of  noble  birth  and  brother  to  Lord  Delaware,  who  had 
saved  the  colony  in  1610.  He  was  followed  in  a  few  months 
by  Dr.  John  Pott,  probably  a  physician,  though  according  to 
the  old  reports  he  was  a  man  widely  read  in  the  literature  of 
the  Hebrews,  the  Greeks  and  the  Remans.  In  the  annals  of 
Virginia  history  his  name  will  always  be  remembered,  be- 
cause after  he  had  been  removed  as  Governor  he  was  accused 
of  cattle  stealing  and  tried  before  the  Virginia  Council,  then 
the  supreme  court  of  the  colony  as  well  as  the  upper  house 
of  the  General  Assembly,  and  was  declared  guilt3\  John  Har- 
vey, who  had  superseded  Pott  as  Governor,  suspended  the 
'sentence,  and,  on  petition  to  the  King,  the  case  was  referred  to 
the  commissioners  of  Virginia,  who  declared  that  the  "con- 
demning Pott  of  felony  was  very  rigorous,  if  not  erroneous." 
So  there  seemed  some  grounds  for  th-?  belief  that  the  learned 
doctor  had  been  dealt  with  unjustly,  but  in  spite  of  the  de- 
cision of  the  commissioners,  history  has  branded  him  as  a 
cattle  thief. 

When  Sir  John  Harvey  became  Governor  in  1630,  a  new 
era  of  expansion  began  in  the  colony.     Already  there  were 


CHARLES  I.  AND  CROMWELLS.  209 

thirty  settlements  along  the  James  River,  but  in  this  year  the 
first  real  settlement  on  the  south  side  of  the  York  River,  about 
twenty-seven  miles  below  the  juncture  of  the  Mattapony  and 
the  Pamunkey  Rivers,  was  formed,  and  two  years  later  an- 
other settlement  on  the  same  river  was  made.  About  thi'ii 
same  time  William  Claiborne,  an  English  gentleman  who  had 
come  to  \^irginia  in  1621  as  surveyor  of  the  plantations,  planted 
a  colony  on  Kent  Island,  in  the  Chesapeake  Bay,  and  Middle 
Plantation,  afterwards  Williamsburg,  was  laid  out  and  a  lino 
of  palisades  from  "tidewater  to  tidewater"  were  constructed. 

Students  of  Virginia  history  have  frequently  forgot  the 
fact  that  the  London  Company  did  not  go  out  of  existence 
without  a  protest.  Many  of  its  members  lived  for  thirty  or 
forty  years  longer.  A  large  number  of  them  were  members 
of  the  British  Parliament,  in  which  body  they  fought  against 
the  action  of  Charles  L  in  trying  to  collect  taxes  without  the 
consent  of  Parliament.  They  forced  Charles  to  approve,  in 
1628,  the  famous  Petition  of  Right,  acknowledging  that  the 
1  ight  of  taxation  lay  in  the  hands  of  Pai  liament.  And  worthy 
to  be  remembered  here  is  the  fact  that  the  words  of  protest 
in  the  Petition  of  Right  relating  to  taxation  were  almost  iden- 
tically those  which  had  been  embodied  in  a  resolution  of  the 
Virginia  Assembly  in  i623-'24.  This  same  liberal  element 
even  conceived  of  the  plan  of  reviving  the  London  Company. 
The  leaders  of  this  movement  were  Sir  Edward  Sackville  and 
George  Sandys.  The  latter  will  be  remembered  as  the  treas- 
urer of  the  colony  of  Virginia,  which  position  he  held  from 
1621  to  1628,  and  during  which  time  he  translated  at  James- 
town into  English  verse  the  "Metamorphoses"  of  Ovid. 

Sir  John  Harvey,  the  Governor,  was  not  of  this  liberal 
party;  therefore  he  tried  in  Virginia  to  imitate  his  master  in 
England,  the  King — namely,  to  raise  taxes  without  the  con- 
sent of  the  Virginia  Assembly.     But  as  had  been  done  in  1624, 


210  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA. 

fhe  Assembly  again,  in  1632,  declared  that  njo  taxes  should  He 
laised  save  by  its  authority.  At  the  head  of  the  opposition 
to  Harvey  stood  William  Claiborne,  now  Secretary  of  State 
for  the  Colony  of  Virginia,  having  been  appointed  to  that  po- 
sition by  Charles  I.  in  1625.  Because  of  his  opposition  he 
was  finally  removed  from  his  office  by  the  Governor.  Politics 
"ran  high,"  and  the  colonists  were  divided  into  Harveyitea 
and  anti-Harveyites.  Some  asked  for  the  removal  of  the  Gov- 
ernor, while  the  others  believed  in  his  policy.  By  some  he 
was  painted  as  extortionate,  unjust  and  arbitrary,  while  others 
regarded  him  as  a  "grafter,"  claiming  that  he  had  granted 
lands  for  a  consideration,  while  others  went  so  far  as  to  as- 
sert that  he  was  a  thief  and  used  the  public  revenue  as  his 
(Own  private  property.  Finally,  in  163  s,  Harvey  made  a  blun- 
der by  suppressing  an  address  to  the  King  from  the  Assembly 
On  the  question  of  the  tobacco  trade.  If  there  was  one  thing 
dear  to  the  hearts  of  Virginians  it  was  the  hope  of  having  a 
monopoly  on  all  tobacco  shipped  into  England.  So,  by  sup- 
pressing this  petition,  the  Governor  lost  the  support  of  many 
who  had  previously  been  his  adherents.  The  anti-Harveyites 
now  predominated,  and,  behold,  the  people  of  Virginia  rose 
up  and  demanded  that  Harvey  should  be  removed  as  Gov- 
ernor. Some  of  the  leaders,  at  the  instigation  of  Harvey, 
were  arrested.  But  the  Council  refused,  in  its  capacity  as 
the  supreme  court,  to  try  the  prisoners.  The  Governor  then 
accused  one  of  the  councilors  of  high  treason,  whereupon  the 
Council  arrested  him  and  kept  him  in  confinement.  This  same 
body  immediately  called  an  Assembly  which  met  at  James- 
town, ratified  the  action  of  the  Council,  put  Harvey  aboard  a 
ship  and  sent  him  to  England  in  custody  of  two  members  of 
the  House  of  Burgesses.  The  action  of  the  Council  was 
briefly  recorded  as  follows:  "On  che  28th  of  April,  1635,  Sir 
John  Harvey  thrust  out  of  his  Government  and  Captain  John 


CHARLES  I.  AND  CROM WELLS.  211 

West  acts  as  Governor  until  the  King^s  pleasure  known." 
No  one  has  painted  for  us  Charles  I  when  he  received  the 
news  of  the  action  of  the  Virginia  Council  and  Assembly,  but 
no  doubt  he  was  greatly  enraged  to  think  that  the  people  of 
so  insignificant  a  country  would  dare  to  remove  from  office  a 
man  appointed  under  a  royal  commission.  It  is  reported, 
however,  that  he  declared  it  an  act  of  regal  authority,  caused 
the  two  Burgesses  who  carried  Harvey  to  England  to  be  ar- 
rested, and  summoned  the  members  of  the  Council  who  had 
been  unfriendly  to  Harvey  to  appear  in  England  to  answer 
for  their  crimes.  Moreover,  to  the  chagrin  of  the  Virginians, 
Charles  I.  reappointed  Harvey  as  Governor,  in  order  that  the 
removal  of  one  of  his  appointees  might  not  be  regarded  as  a 
precedent. 

For  four  years  Sir  John  continued  as  Governor  of  Vir- 
ginia, but  his  life  was  not  a  pleasant  one.  In  the  meantime 
the  affairs  of  England  were  rapidly  approaching  a  crisis.  The 
realm  was  racked  and  torn  by  a  struggle  between  the  sup- 
porters of  the  King,  known  as  "Cavaliers,"  and  the  opponents 
of  the  King,  who  soon  came  to  be  known  as  "Roundheads." 
The  question  was  whether  the  King  should  lay  the  taxes  or 
the  people — whether  a  privileged  class  or  the  common  people 
should  rule  England.  In  some  respects  it  was  a  question  of 
aristocracy  as  opposed  to  demjocracy.  In  so  far  as  English 
conditions  affected  Virginia,  the  situation  was  this :  Among 
the  opponents  of  the  King  were  arrayed  those  old  members 
of  the  London  Company  who  were  demanding  the  restoration 
of  their  charter.  To  this  the  King  would  not  consent,  but 
he  was  so  far  moved  by  their  strength  that  he  consented,  in 
1639,  to  remove  Harvey,  and  appointed  as  Governor  Sir 
Francis  Wyatt,  the  same  gentleman  who  had  been  a  follower 
of  Sir  Edwin  Sandys  and  the  Earl  of  Southampton,  and  who, 
along  with  Yeardley,  had  ruled  in  Virginia  so  acceptably ;  and. 


212  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA. 

strange  to  say,  so  anxious  was  the  King^  to  conciliate  this 
public  feeling  that  he  gave  instructions  in  his  own  hand- 
writing that  Captain  West,  of  the  Council,  who  had  been  the 
chief  advocate  for  the  removal  of  Harvey,  and  who  had  acted 
as  Governor  at  the  time  that  Harvey  was  transported  from 
the  colony,  should  be  appointed  Master  General  of  the  colony. 

Governor  Wyatt  at  once  called  Harvey  to  account  for  his 
abuses  of  power  in  Virginia.  The  property  which  Harvey 
had  got  together  by  means  fair  and  foul  was  seized  to  satisfy 
his  numerous  creditors.  An  effort  was  made  by  the  General 
Assembly  for  the  restoration  of  the  charter  of  the  London 
Company,  and  George  Sandys  was  appointed  as  general  agent 
of  the  colony  in  England,  and  petitions  were  forwarded  to 
England  which  were  interpreted  by  George  Sandys  as  advo- 
cating, on  the  part  of  the  colony,  the  restoration  of  the  London 
Company.  He  made  an  appeal  to  Parliament  in  1640,  and 
actually  secured  the  passage  of  a  resolution  authorizing  the 
revival  of  the  patent  rights  of  the  London  Company  of  Vir- 
ginia. This  action  was  more  than  Chtrles  I.  was  willing  to 
accept,  and  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  the  cloud  of  rebellion  was 
hovering  over  England,  he  took  enough  interest  in  the  affairs 
of  Virginia  to  remove  Sir  Francis  Wyatt  and  appointed  Sir 
William  Berkeley  as  Governor. 

Governor  Berkeley  arrived  in  the  colony  in  January,  1642, 
and  immediately  called  an  Assembly,  which  petitioned  the 
King  protesting  against  the  action  of  George  Sandys  in  trying 
to  secure  the  restoration  of  the  company.  It  is  interesting  to 
note  that  this  document,  though  signed  by  the  Council  and 
Burgesses,  as  well  as  by  Governor  Berkeley  himself,  in  its 
preamble  alludes  to  the  fact  that  the  sentiment  in  Virginia 
on  this  question  was  greatly  changed.  As  a  matter  of  fact, 
the  Virginia  people  wished  to  rule  themselves,  but  they  were 
not  in  full  accord  with  the  rebellious  attitude  of  the  English 


CHARLES  I.  AND  CROMWELLS.  213 

Parliament  towards  its  sovereign.  They  looked  askance  at 
a  movement  fostered  and  cherished  chiefly  by  the  English 
conformists,  for  the  people  of  Virginia;  though  containing  a 
sprinkling  here  and  there  of  opponents  to  the  established 
church,  believed  on  the  whole  in  the  episcopacy.  Moreover, 
many  Cavaliers  were  coming  at  this  period  into  the  colony, 
and  were  willing  to  lend  their  moral  support  to  the  King  as 
the  head  of  church  and  state. 

During  eight  years  Berkeley  remained  as  Governor.  These 
were  the  years  of  the  civil  war  in  England.  Charles  was 
taken  prisoner  and  beheaded.  The  war  having  ended  dis- 
astrously to  the  side  of  the  King,  the  Cavalier  element  con- 
tinued to  come  in  even  greater  numbers  to  America,  settling 
hi  Virginia,  which,  as  the  struggle  between  the  King  and  Par- 
liament continued,  had  increased  in  sympathy  for  the  royal 
c?use.  On  the  execution  of  Charles  I.  Sir  William  Berkeley 
denounced  the  whole  proceedings  as  a  cold  blooded  murder, 
while  the  General  Assembly  passed  an  act  declaring  that  all 
who  had  taken  part  against  the  King  or  who  should  defend 
such  action  should  be  regarded  as  guilty  of  treason,  and  that 
any  one  who  even  doubted  the  right  of  his  son,  Charles  II., 
to  be  recognized  as  King  should  also  be  regarded  as  a  traitor. 

Parliament  was  not  slow  in  turning  its  eyes  towards  the 
colony  that  was  loyal  to  the  English  crown.  In  1650  it 
adopted  an  ordinance  prohibiting  trade  with  the  rebellious 
colony  of  Virginia,  and  at  once  the  council  of  state  took  meas- 
ures to  reduce  it  to  submission.  One  of  the  first  acts  of  the 
English  Parliament  was  a  navigation  act,  passed  in  October, 
165 1,  which  limited  the  trade  of  all  the  colonies  to  England, 
and  thus  cut  out  from  Virginia  many  Dutch  vessels.  Fol- 
lowing this  Parliament  ordered  a  squadron  to  be  got  ready 
and  sent  to  subdue  the  loyalists  of  Virginia.  The  expedition 
was  commanded  by  Captain  Robert  Dennis.    Richard  Bennett, 


214  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA. " 

William  Claiborne  and  Thomas  Stegge  were  appointed  com- 
missioners, along  with  Dennis,  to  arrange  to  subdue  the  re- 
calcitrant colony.  Bennett  belonged  to  the  Puritan  faction 
of  Virginia,  which  was  strong  in  Nansemond  county.  Clai- 
borne, of  whom  we  will  hear  more  later,  was  a  member  of 
Governor  Berkeley's  council,  but  "was  not  friendly  with  the 
Governor.  Captain  Stegge  sailed  with  the  expedition  under 
Captain  Dennis.  Both  were  lost  in  the  storm,  and  the  com- 
mand devolved  upon  Captain  Curtis.  In  January,  1652,  the 
expedition  reached  Virginia,  and  it  was  probably  at  this  time 
that  Claiborne  and  Bennett  learned  of  their  appointment  to 
serve  as  commissioners. 

We  are  told  that  old  Berkeley,  game  cock  that  he  was,  on 
seeing  the  approach  of  the  English  force  called  out  the  militia 
of  the  colony,  at  that  time  twelve  hundred  strong,  and  per- 
suaded some  Dutch  vessels,  then  in  English  waters,  to  arm 
themselves  for  resistance.  These  vessels  had  no  right,  under 
the  navigation  act,  to  be  in  Virginia  waters,  and  were  liable 
to  be  seized  and  confiscated  by  the  English  government.  We 
are  told  that  every  preparation  was  made  for  resistance  at 
Jamestown,  but  before  any  shots  were  passed  a  party  from 
the  British  force  came  ashore  and  proceeded  to  ask  for  ne- 
gotiations. The  commissioners,  on  the  arrival  of  the  English 
force,  had  not  gone  at  once  to  Jamestown,  but  had  first  issued 
a  proclamation,  which  was  sent  to  various  parts  of  the  colony, 
stating  that  their  purpose  was  not  to  make  war,  but  only  tD 
ask  that  the  people  of  Virginia  should  recognize  the  Common- 
wealth in  England.  This  proclamation  had  its  effect,  and  when 
the  party  for  negotiation  landed  at  Jamtstown,  though  Berke- 
ley had  troops  and  vessels  ready  for  fight,  the  commissioners 
had  no  difficulty  in  persuading  the  Council  and  Burgesses  to 
recognize  parliamentary  government  and  to  promise  to  pass 
no  statute  contrary  to  the  laws  of  England.     Articles  of  sur- 


CHARLES  I.  AND  CROMWELLS.  215 

render  were  drawn  up  between  the  Commonwealth  of  Eng- 
land, represented  by  Bennett,  Curtis  and  Claiborne,  and  Vir- 
ginia, represented  by  the  Grand  Assembly  of  the  Governor, 
Council  and  Burgesses  of  Virginia.  It  was  in  realit}^  more  of 
a  treaty  than  a  surrender,  for  the  commissioners  agreed  that 
the  General  Assemly  should  transact  the  aflfairs  of  Virginia, 
and  that  the  Commonwealth  of  England  should  acknowledge 
all  of  the  bounds  and  limits  granted  to  Virginia  by  the  char- 
ters of  the  former  Kings.  Moreover,  they  agreed  that  Vir- 
ginia should  have  free  trade  and  should  be  "free  from  all  taxes, 
customs  and  impositions  whatsoever,  and  none  to  be  imposed 
on  them  without  the  consent  of  the  Grand  Assembly."  Old 
Berkeley  accepted  the  verdict  and  q'.iietly  retired  to  his  coun- 
try home.  The  Virginia  Assembly  shortly  afterwards  pro- 
ceeded to  elect  as  Governor  Richard  Bennett,  the  Puritan. 

When  Harvey  was  thrust  out,  the  Council,  with  the  ap- 
proval of  the  House  of  Burgesses,  had  requested  Captain 
West  to  act  as  Governor,  awaiting  the  pleasure  of  His  Majesty, 
the  King.  But  now  the  Assembly  did  not  await  the  pleasure 
of  the  Commonwealth,  but  deliberately  elected  a  Governor. 
For  eight  years  the  government  of  the  colony  was  entirely 
in  the  hands  of  the  Assembly,  and  during  this  period  three 
different  Governors  were  elected. 

At  the  time  of  the  coming  of  tne  commissioners  Virginia 
was  a  prosperous  colony.  There  were  thirteen  counties  along 
the  James  River  and  York  River,  "ncluding  the  Eastern  Shore 
and  Lancaster  county  on  the  Rappahannock,  and  Northumber- 
land county  on  the  Potomac.  Settlements  had  not  reached 
the  head  of  tidewater,  however,  at  any  place  except  at  the 
falls  of  the  James,  where  Richmond  now  stands.  It  is  hard  to 
estimate  the  population  at  this  period,  but  the  rapid  influx  of 
Cavaliers  and  refugees  from  England  had  probably  brought 
the  population  to  some  twenty  thousand,  of  whom  six  thou- 
sand were  indented  servants  and  five  hundred  negro  slaves. 


2i6  COLONIAL  Virginia; 

During-  the  Commonwealth  period,  when  Virginia  was 
ruled  by  a  Governor  elected  by  its  own  Assembly,  we  are  not 
to  assume  that  all  of  the  people  were  in  accord  with  the  new 
government,  for  the  Puritan  elemeat  was  now  in  the  ascen- 
dancy. This  was  an  unpleasant  morsel  to  the  Cavalier  ele- 
ment of  Virginia.  Berkeley,  at  Old  Green  Springs,  spoke  lit- 
tle and  suppressed  many  a  hostile  feeling.  Some,  however, 
were  outspoken  against  the  government  and  were  arrested 
and  punished.  Moreover,  the  gov-^ernment  during  this  time 
was  regarded  as  provisional,  and  it  was  not  known  at  what 
time  Oliver  Cromwell,  the  Protector  of  England,  would  undo 
everything  which  the  Assembly  was  doing.  Still  the  House 
of  Burgesses  was  very  jealous  of  its  rights.  Worthy  of  note 
was  the  controversy  with  Governor  Samuel  Mathews,  who 
demanded  to  be  admitted  as  a  member  of  the  Assembly, 
from  which  he  was  excluded.  Thereupon,  after  royal  fashion, 
he  dissolved  the  Burgesses.  The  House  of  Burgesses  very 
promptly  refused  to  obey  his  order,  believing  that  a  creature 
of  their  will  had  no  right  to  dissolve  them,  and  declared  that 
any  Burgess  who  departed  would  be  regarded  as  a  traitor  to 
the  cause  which  he  represented.  Mathews  yielded  somewhat 
and  recalled  his  dissolution,  and  said  he  would  refer  the  whole 
matter  to  the  Lord  Protector  in  England.  With  this  answer 
the  Burgesses  were  dissatisfied  and  so  informed  the  Governor, 
and  above  all  made  this  bold  assertion,  "that  they  were  rep- 
resentatives of  the  people,  not  dissolvable  by  any  power  yet 
extant  in  Virginia  but  their  own."  They  thereupon  removed 
the  Governor,  and  on  his  yielding  absolutely  the  right  of 
dissolution,  he  was  reappointed.  Thus  it  appears  that  Vir- 
ginia's representatives,  even  in  the  seventeenth  century,  were 
very  jealous  of  their  prerogatives. 

In  a  short  time  came  word  that  Oliver  Cromwell  was  dead, 
and  that  the   English   government  \vas   in   a   chaotic   state. 


CHARLES  I.  AND  CROMWELLS.  217 

Richard  Cromwell  being  a  weak  ruler.  Governor  Mathews 
had  in  the  meantime  died.  What  did  the  Virginians  do? 
The  exact  steps  are  not  known  in  minute  detail.  We  do 
know,  however,  that  the  Assembly  did  elect  Sir  William 
Berkeley  as  Governor,  but  in  doing  so  declared  that  since 
there  was  no  recognized  government  in  England  the 
supreme  government  of  the  colony  should  rest  in  the  Assem- 
bly, and  that  all  writs  should  be  issued  in  the  name  of  th^ 
Grand  Assembly.  What  led  to  the  election  of  Berkeley  is 
not  definitely  known.  Some  say  that  the  Cavalier  element 
in  Virginia,  having  enough  of  Puritan  government,  had  over- 
thrown it  by  the  election  of  an  Assembly  favorable  to  Charles 
II.,  and  that  this  Assembly  had  invited  Charles  to  come  to 
Virginia  and  be  King,  and  that  because  of  the  promise  to 
him  of  a  crown  in  Virginia  he  had  SDcken  of  it  as  his  "Old 
Dominion,"  the  term  that  has  come  down  to  this  day,  and 
that  because  of  this  invitation  the  King  afterwards  ordered 
that  the  Virginia  shield  should  be  inscribed  "En  dat  Virginia 
quiantum."  We  know  that  Berkeley  was  elected  Governor 
two  months  before  Charles  was  restored  to  the  throne,  but 
there  is  nowhere  mention  in  the  laws  of  the  Assembly  of 
the  words  "King"  or  "Majesty,"  until  four  months  after 
Charles  II.  had  been  restored.  A.s  far  as  the  records  show 
the  relation  of  Virginia  to  Charles  II.,  we  are  not  able  to  do 
more  than  conclude  that  Virginia  was  loyal  to  the  crown,  but 
made  no  foolish  attempts  to  establish  a  monarchy  in  America 
in  opposition  to  the  government  of  England.  That  the  colony 
had  undoubtedly  been  friendly  to  ihe  King,  he  readily  ac- 
knowledged when  he  transmitted  to  Sir  William  Berkeley, 
who  had  always  been  faithful  to  him.  a  new  commission  as 
Governor  of  Virginia,  dated  July  i,  1660. 

Virginia  was  now  a  royal  province,  and  from  this  time 
until  the  Revolution  all  of  her  Governors  received  their  com- 


2i8  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA. 

missions  from  the  crown.  The  period  of  transition  from  a 
colony,  established  by  a  trading-  company,  to  a  full-fledged 
royal  province,  the  period  from  1625  to  1660,  was  in  reality 
an  eventful  one  in  the  colony,  and  no  student  of  history  can 
be  but  impressed  with  the  independent  spirit  of  the  Vir- 
ginians of  this  time. 

Before  closing  this  chapter  dealing  with  this  transitional 
period,  it  is  but  right  to  consider  somewhat  the  relation  o£ 
Virginia  with  its  sister  colony  Maryland,  especially  that  con- 
troversy in  which  William  Claiborne,  an  English  gentleman 
of  the  Cavalier  type,  was  so  important  a  factor.  Before  com- 
ing to  Virginia  as  surveyor-general,  Claiborne  seems  to  have 
been  a  member  of  the  English  Parliament,  and  to  have  been 
recognized  as  a  man  of  intellect  and  ability.  In  his  capacity 
as  surveyor-general  of  the  colony  he  drew  the  best  map  of 
Virginia  that  had  been  made  up  to  that  time.  He  was  a 
strict  churchman,  and  as  such  he  had  objected  to  Lord  Balti- 
more's landing  at  Jamestown  in  J629,  when  he  came  on  a 
visit  to  the  American  continents,  unless  His  Lordship  would 
take  the  oath  of  allegiance  to  the  King  as  head  of  church 
and  state.  Claiborne  secured  a  grant  for  Kent  Island  in  the 
Chesapeake  Bay,  where  he  could  plant  a  settlement  and 
conduct  trade  with  the  Indians.  Here  he  planted  a  settle- 
ment and  was  conducting  a  successful  trade  with  the  In- 
dians north  of  the  Potomac  River,  when  Lord  Baltimore's 
colony  arrived  under  the  direction  of  his  brother,  Cecil  Cal- 
vert, and  planted  the  Colony  of  Maryland  at  St.  Mary's. 

Kent  Island  was  included  in  the  territory  granted  by  King 
Charles  to  Lord  Baltimore,  and  immediately  a  dispute  arose 
between  Claiborne's  followers  and  the  -Catholics  of  Mary- 
land as  to  the  jurisdiction  over  this  island.  This  resulted  m 
a  long  controversy.  The  Virginians  agreed  with  Claiborne 
that  Lord  Baltimore's  grant  was  really  an  invasion  of  their 


CHARLES  I.  AND  CROMWELLS.  219 

rights.  Of  course,  to  declare  war  against  a  colony  planted 
with  the  consent  of  the  King  was  more  than  the  Virginians 
themselves  were  willing  to  undertake,  but  Claiborne  himself 
protested  to  Charles  I.,  who  authorized  Lord  Baltimore  in 
no  way  to  interfere  with  Claiborne's  colony.  But  before  the 
Marylanders  received  these  instruction's,  with  two  pinnaces 
they  had  invaded  Kent  Island  and  had  driven  away  Claiborne's 
settlers.  This  decision  of  the  King  seemed  to  settle  the  mat- 
ter. However,  the  Maryland  government,  though  it  had 
failed  to  take  Claiborne  prisoner,  caused  him  to  be  indicted 
and  convicted  of  murder  and  piracy,  and  his  personal  pro- 
perty on  the  island  was  seized  and  appropriated  to  Lord  Bal- 
timore's use.  He  thereupon  went  to  England  and  appealed 
to  the  King,  who  referred  the  whole  question  to  the  "Lords 
Commissioners  lof  Plantations."  After  some  delay  they  gave 
the  whole  of  Kent  Island  to  Lord  Baltimore,  and  left  to  Clai- 
borne as  his  only  redress  an  appeal  to  the  courts. 

Claiborne  now  returned  to  Virginia  and  attempted  to 
regain  some  of  his  personal  property,  but  the  Maryland  gov- 
ernment claimed  that  he  had  forfeited  it.  He  thereupon  set- 
tled down  to  a  quiet  life  in  Virginia,  and  in  1642  Charles  L, 
as  a  conciliatory  measure,  made  him  treasurer  of  Virginia 
for  life.  In  his  controversy,  Claiborne  seemed  to  have  had 
the  support  of  the  people  of  Virginia  at  large,  but  of  course 
the  Governors  always  took  the  part  of  Liord  Baltimore. 
Hardly  had  Claiborne  become  treasurer  of  the  colony  before 
civil  war  in  England  was  being  waged.  Strange  to  say, 
Claiborne,  though  a  Cavalier,  joined  himself  to  the  Puritan 
party.  This  policy  was  undoubtedly  determined  upon  because 
pf  his  desire  to  recover  Kent  Island.  About  this  time,  1644, 
the  Catholic  government  of  Maryland  was  overthrown  by 
Captain  Richard  Ingle.  Many  have  claimed  that  Claiborne 
was  responsible  for  this  rebellion  in  Maryland,  but  of  this 


220  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA. 

there  is  no  proof.  Governor  Calvert  fled  to  Virginia  and  tlie 
next  year  returned  to  Maryland  wich  a  force  furnished  him  by 
Governor  Berkeley  and  re-established  himself  in  Maryland. 

When  the  Commonwealth  was  established  in  England,  and 
Claiborne,  Bennett  and  others  were  appointed  as  Parlia- 
mentary Commissioners  to  reduce  Vhginia,  they  were  like- 
wise requested  to  reduce  to  submission  the  Colony  of  Mary- 
land. By  these  commissioners  Governor  Stone  was  removed 
and  the  government  of  Maryland  was  put  in  the  hands  of  the 
Council.  It  was  Claiborne's  purpose  now  to  assert  his  rights 
on  Kent  Island.  News,  however,  came  that  Cromwell  had 
prorogued  the  English  Parliament,  whereupon  Stone  rose  in 
rebellion  and  declared  that  the  authority  under  which  Clai- 
borne had  acted  no  longer  governed  him.  Immediately  Clai- 
borne returned  to  Maryland,  seized  the  government  and  called 
an  Assembly,  which  disfranchised  the  Catholics.  The  Lord  Pro- 
tector Cromwell  then  took  a  hand  in  the  controversy  and  tried 
to  straddle  the  fence :  namely,  to  recognize  Lord  Baltimore's 
rights  and  at  the  same  time  to  approve  of  the  proceedings 
of  the  commissioners  who  had  reduced  Maryland  to  submis- 
sion to  the  Commonwealth  of  England.  Thereupon  civil  war 
broke  out  again  in  Maryland.  Stone  attacked  the  government, 
which  was  in  the  hands  of  the  Claibornites,  and  a  battle  took 
place  at  the  mouth  of  the  Severn  River,  near  the  present  site 
of  Annapolis.  Stone's  followers  were  utterly  routed,  and  we 
are  told  that  Papist  heads  were  strewn  over  the  battlefield, 
and  that  the  Jesuit  Fathers  were  hotly  pursued  and  escaped 
to  Virginia,  where  they  inhabited  a  mean,  low  hut.  Twenty 
persons  were  killed,  and  several  persons  were  tried  and  con- 
demned to  death  by  court-martial,  ind  four  of  the  principals, 
one  of  them  a  councilor,  were  executed  on  the  spot.  Governor 
Stone  was  likewise  sentenced,  but  on  the  intercession  of  some 
women  his  life  was  spared.     This  was  a  severe  blow  to  Lord 


CHARLES  I.  AND  CROMWELLS.  221 

Baltimore's  government  in  Maryland,  and  the  Catholics,  who 
had  been  responsible  for  the  settlement,  were  deprived  of  any 
voice  in  the  government.  Lord  Baltimore  then  appealed  to 
Cromwell,  who  finally  settled  the  whole  controversy  in  favor 
of  His  Lordship.  Thus  Claiborne  was  forced,  after  a  struggle 
twenty-four  years,  to  retire  from  Maryland  and  to  give  up  his 
claims  on  Kent  Island. 

William  Claiborne  continued  as  secretary  of  the  Colony  of 
Virginia  until  1660,  having  been  elected  to  this  place  by  the 
same  Assembly  that  elected  Bennett  Governor  in  1652.  When 
Charles  H.  was  restored  to  the  throne  and  Berkeley  again  be- 
came Governor  of  Virginia,  Claiborne  retired  'to  private  life 
ii.  New  Kent  County,  which  county  he  had  organized  and 
named  after  Kent  Island.  In  1660  he  was  elected  a  member 
of  that  House  of  Burgesses  which  Berkeley  kept  in  power 
for  sixteen  years.  In  1675  he  presented  a  petition  to  Charles 
II.  in  which  he  showed  that  in  his  attempt  to  settle  Kent 
Island  he  had  lost  six  thousand  pounds,  and  he  begged  the 
King  that  Lord  Baltimore  might  De  forced  to  make  restoration 
for  this  loss.  To  this  petition  Charles  paid  no  attention.  All 
of  Claiborne's  friends  in  England  were  now  dead  and  he  had 
no  one  to  help  him.  Claiborne  probably  died  in  1676,  in  the 
m.idst  of  Bacon's  Rebellion,  at  the  age  of  eighty-seven.  He 
left  three  sons,  from  whom  many  of  the  best  people  of  Vir- 
ginia claim  descent. 

Claiborne  has  wrongly  been  called  a  rebel.  His  action  in 
overthrowing  the  Maryland  government  was  done  in  accord- 
ance with  instructions  which  he  had  received  from  England. 
His  long  and  vigorous  fight  for  his  rights  to  Kent  Island  was 
not  a  rebellious  action,  but  a  protest  against  the  vacillating 
policy  of  the  crown  in  the  granting  of  charters  and  in  making 
large  gifts  of  land  to  favorites.  The  Virginians,  not  many 
years  after,  had  reason  to  recall  the  wisdom  of  Claiborne's  pro- 


222  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA. 

test,  and  to  deplore  the  system  pursued  by  the  King  in  grant- 
ing land. 

In  concluding  this  chapter  it  is  well  to  remember  that  the 
years  1625  to  1660  were  important  ones  in  Virginia  history. 
On  the  part  of  the  crown  and  the  royal  Governors  <=ffort3 
were  made  to  ignore  the  charter  rights  of  the  Virginians. 
These  were  days  of  trial  to  the  inhabitants  of  the  colony,  but 
they  rose  to  the  occasion  with  a  bravery  characteristic  of 
Virginians  in  succeeding  years  and  stood  firmly  by  the  right 
as  they  saw  it.  The  restoration  of  Charles  II.  to  the  throne 
of  England  and  the  reappointment  of  Sir  William  Berkeley 
as  Governor  prepared  the  way  for  a  complete  ignoring  of 
these  rights,  of  which  the  story  will  be  told  in  the  next  chapter. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

BACON'S  REBELLION. 

The  restoration  of  Charles  II.  to  the  throne  of  England 
and  the  reappointment  of  Sir  William  Berkeley  as  Governor 
of  Virginia  marked  the  beginning  of  a  new  era  in  the  colony. 
From  this  time  until  the  Revolution  there  was  a  constant 
growth  in  population  and  wealth,  though  the  rights  of  the 
people  were  frequently  disregarded  by  the  royal  governors  as 
representatives  of  the  King.  The  ten  years  from  1642  to  1652, 
in  which  Berkeley  ruled  in  Virginia,  did  not  clearly  indicate  to 
the  Virginians  the  character  of  their  Governor.  In  those  days 
he  was  a  young  man,  every  inch  an  aristocrat  and  a  litterateur. 
He  was  a  graduate  of  Oxford  University  and  fellow  of  Merton 
College.  He  had  been  closely  associated  with  all  the  literary 
men  of  England  and  had  written  plays  which  were  acted  in 
the  London  theatres.  But  though  a  man  of  culture,  he  had 
narrow  views  as  to  the  rights  of  the  common  people,  and  in 
religious  matters  he  was  a  thorough  bigot.  He  had  been 
anxious  to  drive  from  Virginia  all  Quakers  and  Puritans,  and 
hadl  caused  the  House  of  Burgesses  to  pass  a  law  to  the  ef- 
fect that  all  ministers  whatsoever  "arc  to  be  conformable  to 
the  orders  and  constitutions  of  the  Church  of  England  and  the 
laws  therein  described,  and  not  otherwise  be  admitted  to  teach 
or  preac!i  publicly  or  privately;  and  that  the  Governor  and 
Council  should  take  care  that  all  non-conformists  shall  be  com- 
pelled to  depart  from  the  colony  with  all  convenience."  More- 
over, he  caused  the  House  of  Burgosses  to  pass  a  strenuous 

223 


224  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA. 

law  against  the  Quakers,  whom  he  caused  to  be  sent  out  of 
the  colony.  This  law  declared  that  all  vessels  bringing*  Quakers 
to  Virginia  were  to  be  fined  one  hundred  pounds  of  tobacco, 
and  any  person  entertaining  a  Quaker  should  be  compelled  to 
pay  one  hundred  pounds  sterling.  Still,  he  had  somewhat  en- 
deared himself  to  the  people  of  Virginia  by  his  decision  of 
character,  and  he  was  respected  as  a  brave  soldier,  because 
he  had  led  a  force  against  the  Indians  in  1644  and  quickly 
suppressed  the  insurrection  headed  by  Opechancanough. 

In  1660  Berkeley  started  upon  a  new  career.  He  deter- 
mined to  do  in  Virginia  what  Charles  II.  was  doing  in  Eng- 
land, namely,  to  rule  according  to  his  own  ideas,  without  much 
reference  to  the  wishes  of  the  people.  He  secured  the  election 
in  that  year  of  a  House  of  Burgesses  composed  of  two  repre- 
sentatives from  each  of  the  twenty  counties  in  the  colony  and 
of  one  representative  from  Jamestown,  a  large  majority  of 
whom  were  favorable  to  his  methods  of  government.  With 
these  Burgesses  he  and  the  sixteen  Councilors  of  state  sat,  con- 
stituting the  General  Assembly  that  held  power  for  sixteen 
years.  During  these  sixteen  years,  however,  he  did  not  call 
the  Burgesses  frequently  to  consider  the  state  of  affairs  of  the 
colony,  and  consequently  there  grew  up  in  all  parts  of  the 
colony  a  strong  feeling  of  dissatisfaction,  which  was  soon 
to  result  in  open  rebellion  on  the  part  of  some  of  the  liberty- 
loving  Virginians. 

There  is  preserved  an  interesting  document,  a  report  which 
Berkeley  made  to  the  Commissioners  of  Plantations  in  Eng- 
land in  1671.  It  is  a  report  on  the  condition  of  the  colony  at 
that  time.  A  synopsis  of  this  report  brought  out  the  follow- 
ing facts: 

That  Virginia  was  ruled  by  a  Governor,  sixteen  Coun- 
cilors and  the  Burgesses,  composed  of  two  representatives 
from  each  county;  that  in  twenty-eight  years  only  one  prize 


BACON'S  REBELLION.  225 

liad  been  captured  on  the  high  seas ;  that  there  was  a  militia 
composed  of  eig-ht  thousand ;  that  there  were  five  forts  to 
protect  the  frontiers  against  the  Indians ;  that  the  colony  was 
not  molested  by  privateers,  and  that  the  Indians  were  abso- 
lutely subjucated.  The  Governor  complained  that  while  Vir- 
ginia had  originall3^  been  a  territory  embracing  ten  degrees 
of  latitude,  the  King  had  limited  it  to  half  a  degree.  Of  the 
commodities  of  the  country  he  reported:  "We  never  had  any 
but  tobacco,  which  in  this  yet  is  considerable,  that  it  yields 
His  Majesty  a  great  revenue;  but  of  late,  we  have  begun  to 
make  silk  and  are  shipping  masts,  and  very  good  oaks  and 
have  enough  iron  ore  to  keep  one  mill  going  for  seven  years." 
The  population  of  the  colony  he  reported  as  forty  thousand, 
of  whom  two  thousand  were  black  slaves  and  six  thousand 
indented  servants.  The  number  of  ships  carrying  tobacco  to 
England  yearly  was  about  eighty,  but  the  navigation  laws 
worked  hardships  to  the  colony,  and  the  trade  could  not  in- 
crease unless  these  laws  were  modified.  A  tax  of  two  shill- 
ings was  raised  on  every  hogshead  of  tobacco  exported,  and 
in  1670  fifteen  thousand  hogsheads  were  taxed.  On  educa- 
tion and  the  condition  of  the  church,  he  reported: 

"The  same  course  that  is  taken  in  England  out  of  towns; 
every  man  according  to  his  ability  instructing  his  children. 
We  have  fifty-eight  parishes,  and  our  ministers  are  well  paid, 
and  by  my  consent  should  be  better  if  tliey  would  pray  oftener 
and  preach  less.  But  of  all  other  commodities,  so  of  this,  the 
worst  are  sent  us,  and  we  had  few  that  we  could  boast  of, 
since  the  persecution  in-  Cromwell's  tyranny  drove  divers 
worthy  men  hither.  But,  I  thank  God,  there  are  no  free 
schools  nor  printing,  and  I  hope  we  shall  not  have  these  hun- 
dred years.  For  learning  has  brought  disobedience  and 
heresy,  and  sects  into  the  world,  and  printing  has  divulged 
them,  and  libels  against  the  best  government.  God  keep  us 
from  both"! 


226  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA. 

The  last  clause  of  his  report  tells  the  story  of  his  character, 
namely,  that  he  did  not  believe  in  the  education  of  the  poor 
at  the  expense  of  the  g-overnment,  but  that  every  man  should 
educate  his  own  children. 

About  1670  there  arrived  in  Virginia  a  man  about  twenty- 
four  years  of  age.  This  was  Nathaniel  Bacon,  Jr.,  the  son 
of  an  Eng-lish  gentleman,  Thomas  Bacon,  and  probably  a  kins- 
man of  Lord  Francis  Bacon,  the  English  philosopher.  Young 
Bacon  was  educated  at  Oxford  University  and  had  traveled 
extensively  in  Europe.  As  far  as  history  narrates,  he  was 
well  versed  in  English  politics.  Upon  reaching  manhood  he 
married  a  daughter  of  Sir  Edward  Duke  and  thus  incurred 
the  anger  of  his  father.  He  thereupon  shipped  for  Virginia, 
where  he  soon  took  a  prominent  part  in  the  affairs  of  the 
colony  and  became  a  leader  among  the  younger  men. 

Everything  was  not  quiet  in  Virginia  when  Bacon  reached 
the  colony.  The  planters  complained  bitterly  concerning  the 
navigation  act  of  1651,  by  which  goods  carried  into  England 
should  be  transported  only  in  English  ships.  The  trade  which 
Virginia  had  with  the  Dutch  was  a  profitable  one,  and  the 
Virginians  saw  it  die  with  bitterness  in  their  hearts.  A 
second  navigation  act  was  passed  in  the  reign  of  Charles  II. 
of  the  same  kind,  providing  that  no  goods  should  either  be 
shipped  to  or  from  England  except  in  British  built  vessels. 
Neither  could  any  of  the  products  raised  in  the  colony  be 
shipped  to  any  place  but  ports  in  England,  Ireland  or  some 
ether  port  under  the  British  flag.  This  meant  that  whatever 
tobacco  was  raised  in  Virginia  to  supply  the  demands  of 
European  countries  would  have  to  go  through  English  ports, 
and  thus  the  Virginians  were  placed  entirely  in  the  hands  of 
the  English  merchants,  who  bought  at  a  low  price  and  in 
return  sold  their  goods  at  exorbitant  rates.  In  vain  did  the 
settlers  protest  that  this  action  was  unbecoming  and  tyran- 


BACON'S  REBELLION.  227 

nous,  especially  if  the  mother  country  did  not  pay  all  the  ex- 
penses of  her  colonies  at  home.  It  was  proposed  by  some  of 
the  planters  that  the  crops  of  tobacco  should  be  reduced,  but 
of  course  this  meant  a  reduction  of  the  resources  of  the 
planters. 

Added  to  the  strong^  feeling  that  the  Virginians  thus  had 
against  the  English  government  for  restricting  their  trade, 
there  came  into  existence  a  distrust  of  the  royal  Governor, 
Sir  William  Berkeley,  especially  about  1672,  after  he  had  kept 
one  Assembly  since  1661.  Moreover,  his  autocratic  nature 
bore  hard  upon  the  people  who  had  imbibed  a  spirit  of  lib- 
erty, which  necessarily  existed  in  a  new  country.  Some  of 
the  colonists  also  thought  that  Berkeley  was  somewhat  re- 
sponsible for  the  large  grants  of  land  that  Charles  II.  so 
freely  gave  to  favorites.  Then  another  cause  of  discontent 
was  the  fact  that  the  Governor  was  engaged  privately  in 
trade  with  the  Indians,  and  consequently  he  was  slow  to 
take  sieps  against  the  Indians  on  the  frontier  when  they 
pillaged  and  stole  the  property  of  the  planters. 

The  year  1675  pointed  to  serious  trouble  of  some  kind, 
according  to  the  report  of  some  Virginians  who  were  super- 
stitious, for  in  this  year  occurred  three  wonderful  things. 
First  of  all,  a  large  comet  was  seen  every  evening  for  a  week, 
streaming  like  a  horse's  tail  across  the  heavens.  To  the  super- 
stitious, a  comet  indicated  war.  This  phenomenon  was  fol- 
lowed by  great  flights  of  pigeons  in  such  flocks  that  the  sky 
was  darkened  and  the  limbs  of  laige  trees  were  broken  down 
at  night  when  the  pigeons  went  to  roost.  A  third  strange 
sight  was  a  swarm  of  flies  about  an  inch  long  and  the  size  of 
a  man's  little  finger,  and  had  the  letter  "VV"  on  their  wings, 
which  was  interpreted  to  mean  war.  These  flies,  which  were 
probably  locusts,  came  out  of  the  ground  and  ate  all  of  the 
leaves  from  the  trees, 


228  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA. 

But  to  return  to  the  narrative :  In  1675  some  Indians  dwell- 
ing in  Stafford  county,  just  across  the  Rappahannock  River 
from  Fredericksburg,  stole  some  pigs  of  one  of  the  settlers. 
One  or  two  of  the  Indians  were  shot,  and  the  Indians  then 
retaliated  by  killing  a  herdsman.  At  once  the  county  lieu- 
tenant called  all  of  the  force  of  Staffoid,  pursued  the  Indians 
and  killed  about  eleven  of  them.  Unfortunately,  the  Indians 
killed  were  not  the  guilty  ones.  War  having  broken  out  in 
Maryland  against  the  Susquehannocks,  a  body  of  Virginia 
troops,  under  the  command  of  Colonel  John  Washington, 
went  to  the  assistance  of  their  Maiyland  brethren.  Some 
Indian  envoys  who  were  sent  to  negotiate  with  the  whites 
were,  against  all  the  rules  of  war,  put  to  death  by  the  troops 
commanded  by  Major  Thomas  Truman,  leader  of  the  Mary- 
landers.  Almost  immediately  Virginia  was  filled  with  infu- 
riated Susquehannocks,  who  began  to  pillage  on  the  frontier 
from  the  head  of  tidewater  on  the  Potomac  to  the  falls  of 
the  James.  In  January,  1676,  in  a  single  day,  thirty-six  per- 
sons were  murdered.  When  Berkeley  was  informed  of  this 
deed  he  said  that  nothing  could  be  done  until  the  Virginia 
Assembly  met,  in  March  of  that  year.  At  length,  when  Marcli 
came,  the  "Long  Assembly"  was  called.  A  force  of  five  hun- 
dred troops  were  gathered,  but  Berkeley,  without  any  expla- 
nation, disbanded  the  army,  saying  that  the  frontier  forts,  if 
properly  equipped,  would  furnish  all  the  protection  that  the 
inhabitants  needed.  Then  it  was  that  Nathaniel  Bacon  loomed 
up  as  a  leader.  He  was  said  to  be  a  free  thinker,  but  a  man 
who  impressed  the  people,  and  he  drew  around  him  a  wily 
Scotchman,  William  Drummond,  who  had  been  Governor  of 
the  Albemarle  colony  in  Carolina,  and  Richard  Lawrence,  a 
graduate  of  Oxford,  who  was  designated  as  "Thoughtful  Mr. 
Lawrence."  Both  lof  these  gentlemen  were  wealthy  men  for 
that  day  and  generation,  and  are  said  to  have  had  the  best 


BACON'S  REBELLION.  229 

homes  on  Jamestown  Island.  Bacon  himself  lived  on  his 
plantation  at  Curl's  Neck,  about  fifteen  miles  from  Richmond. 
In  discussing-  Berkeley's  attitude  towards  the  Indian  trou- 
bles, we  are  told  that  Bacon  exclaimed,  "If  the  red  skins 
meddle  with  me,  damn  my  blood  but  I  will  harrow  them, 
commission  or  no  commission." 

In  1676  some  Indians  attacked  Bacon's  plantation  and 
killed  his  overseer  and  one  of  his  servants.  The  planters 
from  the  neighborhood  assembled.  Bacon  took  the  lead  and 
sent  a  courier  to  Governor  Berkeley  to  ask  for  a  commission. 
Berkeley  did  not  grant  the  commission,  though  Bacon  in- 
terpreted his  reply  as  favorable,  and  wrote  him  thanking  him 
for  his  promised  commission. 

Hardly,  however,  had  Bacon  proceeded  on  his  way  with 
his  armed  force  of  over  five  hundred  men  before  news 
reached  them  that  the  Governor  had  proclaimed  all  who  con- 
tinued with  Bacon  as  rebels.  Thereupon  most  of  the  planters 
returned  home,  but  some  fifty-seven  continued  in  arms  and 
with  Bacon  attacked  the  Indians  near  Richmond  and  de- 
feated them  in  a  bloody  battle  in  which  about  one  hundred 
and  fifty  Indians  were  slain.  In  the  meantime  Berkeley  had 
gathered  a  force  and  had  taken  the  field  against  the  young 
Englishman  who  presumed  to  proceed  without  his  sanction. 
But  suddenlv  came  news  from  across  the  York  River  that  the 
people  of  Gloucester  were  in  arms  and  ready  to  join  with 
Bacon.  Then  the  Governor,  upon  the  advice  of  his  Council, 
issued  writs  for  the  election  of  a  new  House  of  Burgesses  to 
supersede  the  "Long  Assembly"  whicb  had  now  existed  tor 
sixteen  years.  Bacon's  friends  rallied  around  him  and  elected 
him  as  a  Burgess  from  Henrico  county.  If  we  can  rely  upon 
the  reports  of  the  time,  in  various  parts  of  the  colony  many 
men  voted  though  they  were  not  qualified  legally,  not  own- 
ing a  freehold  as  required  by  the  law  that  the  previous  As- 
sembly had  passed  in  1670. 


230  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA. 

As  the  time  for  the  meeting'  of  the  new  House  of  Bur- 
gesses approached,  Bacon  journeyed  towards  Jamestown  from 
his  plantation  at  Curl's  in  his  sail  boat,  accompanied  by  some 
thirty  of  his  friends  and  adherents.  On  reaching  Jamestown 
he  was  arrested  by  the  high  sheriff  and  taken  at  once  to  the 
capitol  and  carried  into  the  presence  of  the  stern  and  harsh 
Berkeley.  The  report  is  that  the  Governor  said  to  him, 
rather  mildly,  "Mr.  Bacon,  have  you  forgotten  to  be  a  gentle- 
man?" "No,  may  it  please  your  honor,"  replied  the  young 
rebel.  "Very  well,"  said  the  Governor,  "then  I  will  take  your 
parole."  Doubtless  this  was  a  great  surprise  to  Bacon,  and 
the  only  conclusion  that  we  can  reach  for  the  Governor's 
gentle  treatment  was  his  fear  of  the  people,  in  view  of  the 
fact  that  a  majority  of  the  Burgesses  returned  from  the  dif- 
ferent counties  were  not  of  his  party,  but  belonged  to  the 
liberal  element  in  the  colony.  Bacon  went  upon  his  release 
to  the  house  of  his  friend,  Richard  Lawrence.  After  Bacon's 
parole  the  question  arose  what  should  be  done.  He  was 
still  a  prisoner.  His  friends  were  in  a  state  of  consternation, 
and  on  all  sides  was  heard  among  the  Burgesses  and  the  hun- 
dred inhabitants  of  Jamestown  expressions  doubtful  as  to 
the  outcome.  No  one  seemed  to  realize  that  there  would  be 
an  outbreak,  and  his  friends  were  saying,  "All's  over;  Bacon 
is  taken."  It  was  generally  understood  that  if  Bacon  would 
acknowledge  his  offense  and  beg  the  pardon  of  the  Governor, 
his  previous  resistance  to  Governor  Berkeley  would  be  en- 
tirely overlooked. 

In  the  Council  there  was  another  Nathaniel  Bacon,  Berke- 
ley's friend  and  the  "rebel's"  cousin.  By  this  relative  Bacon 
was  persuaded,  against  his  will,  to  offer  an  apology  to  Go\- 
ernor  Berkeley  for  having  proceeded  against  the  Indiaiis 
without  a  commission.  When  the  Assembly  met,  the  Gov- 
ernor rose  and  said,  "If  there  be  'joy  in  the  presence  of  angels 


BACON'S  REBELLION.  231 

ever  one  sinner  that  repenteth,'  there  is  joy  now,  for  we  have 
a  penitent  sinner  come  before  us."  Turning  to  the  sergeant- 
at-arms,  he  said,  "Call  Mr.  Bacon.'  Bacon  appearing,  bowed 
on  one  knee  before  the  Governor,  delivered  into  his  hands  a 
paper  confessing  his  crimes,  and  begged  pardon  of  God,  the 
King  and  the  Governor.  Berkeley  then  said,  "God  forgive 
you.  I  forgive  you  and  all  that  were  with  you."  Though 
the  Governor  stated  that  he  forgave  all,  twenty  of  the  men 
who  had  gone  in  arms  with  Bacon  weie  at  that  time  in  prison. 
Affairs  now  grew  quiet,  and  the  friends  of  Bacon  even  felt 
that  the  Governor  had  been  lenient.  Bacon  occupied  his  seat 
in  the  House  of  Burgesses.  It  was  soon  seen  that  this  new 
Assembly  was  determined  to  reform  the  government.  Under 
Bacon's  influence  it  proceeded  to  pass  a  number  of  laws  deal- 
ing with  the  abuses  which  the  colonists  had  to  undergo  dur- 
ing Berkeley's  administration.  The  Governor  felt  disturbed, 
and  was  constantly  afraid  that  an  open  discussion  of  the  con- 
dition of  the  colony  would  bring  injury  to  himself.  The 
Burgesses  insisted  that  no  member  of  the  Council  should  sit 
with  them,  though  it  had  always  been  customary  up  to  that 
time  that  the  Burgesses  and  the  Councilors  should  sit  as  one 
body.  However,  the  Governor  carried  his  point  and  certain 
Councilors  did  sit  with  the  Burgesses.  The  Assembly  pro- 
ceeded at  once  to  repeal  the  law  of  1670  restricting  suffrage; 
declared  that  vestrymen  should  be  elected  by  a  popular  vote, 
and  that  the  sheriff  should  not  be  appointed  for  a  term  of 
more  than  one  year,  and  that  he  should  not  hold  any  other 
office.  They  abolished  those  privileges  which  exempted  all 
Councilors  and  clergymen  and  their  families  from  taxation. 
They  passed  a  resolution  providing  for  the  maintenance  of 
an  army  of  one  thousand  men  to  keep  the  Indians  in  subjec- 
tion. Everything  seemed  to  be  going  smoothly,  but  under- 
neath there  was  a  strong  current  of  discontent  on  the  part  of 


232  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA. 

Berkeley  arid  his  adherents,  because  the  Baconians  were  in 
the  saddle. 

A  few  days  later  Jamestown  was  astir.  The  report  was 
abroad,  "Bacon  is  fled!  Bacon  is  fled!"  Berkeley  had  made 
promises  to  Bacon  which  he  was  unwillinj^  to  keep,  and  it 
was  rumored  that  even  attempts  were  to  be  made  upon  the 
life  of  the  young-  rebel.  Bacon  went  up  the  river,  raised  a 
force  of  about  four  hundred  men,  and  after  four  days  led  them 
into  Jamestown  to  demand  by  force  a  commission  allowing 
them  to  fight  the  Indians.  Berkeley  at  first  refused,  and, 
when  Bacon's  troops  surrounded  the  capitol  building  shout- 
ing, "We'll  have  it !  We'll  have  it !"  the  Governor  was  greatly 
incensed.  He  came  out  of  the  capitol  and,  baring  his  breast 
before  Bacon  and  his  men,  said,  "Here,  shoot  me !  'Fore  God, 
fair  mark,  shoot!" 

To  this  Bacon  replied :  "No,  may  it  please  your  lionor, 
we  will  not  hurt  a  hair  of  your  head,  or  any  other  man's. 
We  are  come  for  a  commission  to  save  our  lives  from  the 
Indians,  which  you  have  s.o  often  promised,  and  now  we  will 
have  it  before  we  go." 

It  seems  that  the  Governor  was  slow  to  grant  the  com- 
mission and  went  into  the  capitol  to  consult  his  Councilors. 
It  is  reported  that  Bacon  and  his  men  surrounded  the  build- 
ing and  swore  that  they  would  have  a  commission  or  kill  the 
Governor  and  the  Councilors.  Whether  that  be  true  or  not, 
with  much  reluctance  the  Governor  granted  the  commission 
and  soon  thereafter  dissolved  the  House  of  Burgesses.  Bui 
before  this  dissolution  the  Assembly  had  drawn  up  a  petition 
to  the  King  setting  forth  the  grievances  of  the  colony  -and 
eulogizing  Bacon  as  a  faithful  citizen  who  had  at  heart  the 
interests  of  Virginia. 

Hardly  had  Bacon  started  for  the  forests  with  about  a 
thousand    men   before    Berkeley    proclaimed    Bacon    a   rebel 


BACON'S  REBELLION.  233 

and  traitor,  and  collected  an  army  of  twelve  hundred  men  to 
seize  him.  Hearing  of  Berkeley's  action,  Bacon  turned  back 
to  meet  him,  but  the  Governor,  finding-  himself  deserted 
by  all  but  a  few  hundred  of  his  men,  sailed  away  to  Accomac, 
Thereupon  Bacon  led  his  troops  to  Middle  Plantation,  the  site 
of  the  present  city  of  Williamsburg.  Here  he  held  a  confer- 
ence with  his  friends  and  discussed  what  should  be  done. 
William  Drummond  advised  him  to  depose  Berkeley.  Bacon's 
first  step,  however,  was  to  issue  a  manifesto,  in  which  he 
said: 

"If  virtue  be  a  sin,  if  piety  be  guilt,  if  all  the  principles 
of  morality,  goodness  and  justice  be  perverted,  we  must  con- 
fess that  those  who  are  now  called  rebels  may  be  in  danger 
of  those  high  imputations.  Those  loud  and  several  bulls 
would  affright  innocents,  and  render  the  defense  of  our  breth- 
ren and  the  inquiry  into  cur  sad  and  heavy  oppressions  Trea- 
son. But  if  there  be  (as  sure  there  is)  a  just  God  to  appeal 
to,  if  religion  and  justice  be  a  sanctuary  here,  if  to  plead  the 
cause  of  the  oppressed,  if  sincerely  to  aim  at  His  Majesty's 
honor  and  the  public  good  without  any  reservation  or  by- 
interest,  if  to  stand  in  the  gap  after  so  much  blood  of  our 
dear  brethren  bought  and  sold,  if  after  the  loss  of  a  great  part 
of  His  IMajesty's  colony  deserted  and  dispeopled,  freely  with 
our  lives  and  estates  to  endeavor  to  save  the  remainders,  be 
treason — God  Almighty  judge  and  let  the  guilty  die.  But 
since  we  cannot  in  our  hearts  find  one  single  spot  of  rebellion 
or  treason,  or  that  we  have  in  any  manner  aimed  at  subvert- 
ing the  settled  government  or  attempting  of  the  person  of  any 
either  magistrate  or  private  man,  nothwithstanding  the  sev- 
eral reproaches  and  threats  of  some  who  for  sinister  ends  weri 
disaffected  to  us  and  censured  our  innocent  and  honest  de- 
signs, and  since  all  people  in  all  places  where  we  have  yet 
been  can  attest  our  civil,  quiet,  peaceable  behavior,  far  dif- 


234  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA. 

ferent  from  that  of  rebellious  and  tumultuous  persons,  let 
Truth  be  bold  and  all  the  world  know  the  real  foundations 
of  pretended  .^uilt.  We  appeal  to  the  country  itself,  what  and 
of  what  nature  their  oppressions  have  been,  or  by  what  cabal 
and  mystery  the  designs  of  many  of  those  whom  we  call  great 
men  have  been  transacted  and  carried  on."  He  indicted  Sir 
William  Berkeley  for  raising  unjust  taxes  for  the  advance- 
ment of  favorites,  for  not  having  provided  for  the  colony  for- 
tifications, towns  or  trade,  for  having  rendered  the  majesty 
of  the  law  contemptible  by  placing  ignorant  favorites  in  re- 
sponsible positiions,  for  having  assumed  the  monopoly  of  the 
beaver  trade,  and  for  having  refused  to  protect  the  people  of 
Virginia  against  the  invasions  and  murders  committed  by  the 
Indians.  He  ended  his  manifesto  by  demanding  that  Sir  Wil- 
liam Berkeley  and  his  followers  should  be  arrested  and  kept 
at  Middle  Plantation  until  the  King  of  England  should  render 
a  decision  as  to  the  state  of  affairs  in  Virginia.  A  few  days 
later  he  held  a  meeting  of  many  of  the  prominent  citizens  at 
Middle  Plantation,  and  he  submitted  an  oath  to  which  they 
should  subscribe,  namely,  that  they  would  give  military  aid 
against  Berkeley.  They  subscribed  themselves,  however,  as 
faithful  subjects  of  the  King.  Thereupon,  in  the  name  of  the 
King,  they  issued  writs  signed  by  four  Councilors  for  the 
election  of  a  House-  of  Burgesses.  After  this  proceeding 
Bacon  returned  to  the  wilderness  and  defeated  the  Appomat- 
tox Indians  near  where  Petersburg  now  stands. 

A  resort  to  arms  was  necessary  to  decide  the  differences 
between  Bacon  and  Berkeley.  In  order  to  carry  out  the  an- 
nouncement of  his  manifesto,  Bacon  sent  to  Accomac  Giles 
Bland,  with  four  vessels,  to  arrest  Berkeley,  but  Colonel 
Philip  Ludwell,  one  of  Berkeley's  supporters,  who  married 
Lady  Frances  Berkeley  on  the  death  of  Sir  William,  suc- 
ceeded in  capturing  Bland  and  putting  him  into  irons. 


BACON'S  REBELLION.  235 

In  the  meantime  Berkeley  returned  to  Jamestown  and 
fortified  the  place.  Besides  the  capitol  building-  and  a  church, 
Jamestown  at  that  time  contained  sixteen  or  eighteen  houses, 
most  of  them  built  of  brick,  but  not  all  occupied,  since  there 
was  not  more  than  a  dozen  families  on  the  island.  The  in- 
habitants of  the  place  made  their  living  chiefly  by  keeping 
boarding-houses  for  the  Burgesses  and  the  officials  who  had 
ip  live  at  the  capital.  The  town  was  very  easy  to  defend,  but 
Bacon  succeeded  in  taking  it  by  an  act  which  certainly  was 
lacking  in  gallantry.  He  sent  soldiers  through  the  neighboring 
community  to  bring  to  his  camp  some  six  or  eight  ladies 
whose  husbands  were  with  Berkeley  in  the  town.  One  of 
these  was  sent  to  inform  her  husband  and  the  other  follow- 
ers of  Berkeley  that  Bacon  would  place  the  ladies  in  front  of 
his  men  if  Berkeley  should  make  a  sally  from  the  town. 
With  these  ladies  to  protect  his  troops.  Bacon  completed  his 
intrenchments,  and  Berkeley's  soldiers  did  not  dare  to  fire 
for  fear  that  they  might  hurt  the  women.  It  is  stated,  how- 
ever, that  Berkeley's  men  did  make  one  attempt  to  drive 
Bacon  back.  This  was  in  vain,  for  Bacon's  followers  were 
ready  to  lay  down  their  lives,  so  stirred  were  they  by  the 
fervor  and  eloquence  of  the  appeals  of  their  leader.  The 
King's  commissioners  appointed  to  inquire  into  the  affairs  of 
the  colony  after  the  rebellion  had  been  crushed  reported  the 
following  as  a  specimen  of  Bacon's  oratory : 

"Gentlemen  and  Fellow  Soldiers,  how  I  am  transported 
with  gladness  to  find  you  thus  unanimous,  bold  and  daring, 
brave  and  gallant.  You  have  the  victory  before  tire  fight, 
the  conquest  before  the  battle.  .  .  .  Your  hardiness  will 
invite  all  the  country  along  as  we  march  to  come  in  and  sec- 
ond you  .  .  .  The  ignoring  of  their  actions  cannot  but 
so  much  reflect  upon  their  spirit,  as  they  will  have  no  cour- 
age left  to  fight  you.     I  know  you  have  the  prayers  and  well 


236  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA. 

wishes  of  all  the  people  in  Virginia,  while  the  others  are 
loaded  with  their  curses.  Corne  on,  my  hearts  of  gold;  he 
that  dies  in  the  field  lies  in  the  bed  of  honor!" 

Berkeley's  men  were  no  match  for  Bacon's  tried  soldiers, 
and  they  fled  to  Accomac,  and  Bacon  entered  Jamestown 
and  burned  it.  Lawrence  and  Drummond,  two  of  Bacon's 
followers  whose  residences  were  in  Jamestown,  were  the 
leaders  in  the  burning  of  the  place  and  applied  the  torches 
to  their  own  homes.  The  King's  commissioners  reported 
that  many  men  now  suffered  at  Bacon's  hands.  He  shot  one 
of  his  own  deserters,  kept  in  prison  men  like  Richard  Lee 
and  Sir  Henry  Chicheley,  and  caused  to  be  plundered  the 
homes  of  Philip  and  Thomas  Ludwell,  Daniel  Park  and  Rob- 
ert Beverley.  Among  those  especially  mentioned  as  one  who 
said  little  of  his  losses,  though  they  were  great,  was  Colonel 
Augustin  Warner,  the  great-grandfather  of  George  Wash- 
ington, and  among  the  delinquents  was  John  Washington,  an- 
other great-grandfather  of  George  Washington.  The  Indians 
were  also  driven  into  the  woods,  even  those  who  had  been 
friendly  to  the  colony,  among  them  being  t!lie  Queen  of  the 
Pamunkeys,  who  was  plundered  of  all  that  she  had,  while  her 
people  were  made  prisoners.  His  soldiers  are  said  to  have 
plundered  the  estate  of  his  cousin,  Nathaniel  Bacon,  the  elder. 

Shortly  after  this  Bacon  went  into  Gloucester  county, 
where  the  people,  he  had  heard,  v/ere  in  sympathy  with 
Berkeley.  As  a  test  of  their  allegiance,  he  called  upon  them 
to  take  an  oath  against  Berkeley,  and  many  complied  with 
this  request.  While  in  Gloucester  he  was  taken  ill  at  the 
house  of  a  friend,  Mr.  Pate,  and  here  he  died,  the  first  da}^ 
of  October,  1676.  His  enemies  spread  it  abroad  that  he  was 
an  excessive  drinker  and  that  his  death  was  due  to  this  cause, 
but  this  report  was,  beyond  a  doubt,  false.  Bacon  died  pro- 
bably from  fever. 


BACON'S  REBELLION.  237 

According  to  all  accounts  Bacon  was  a  young  man  of 
great  native  gifts  and  wide  culture.  He  was  a  very  oer- 
suasive  and  impressive  orator,  and  iiad  the  reputation  of  be- 
ing able  to  speak  more  "sense  in  a  few  Wiords"  than  any  other 
man  in  the  colony. 

With  Bacon's  death  ended  the  rebellion.  Berkeley  soon 
secured  control  of  the  places  which  Bacon  had  seized,  and 
caused  some  twenty-three  of  the  latter's  followers  to  be  put 
to  death.  The  first  person  to  he  executed  was  Colonel 
Thomas  Hansford,  who  was  captured  and  carried  to  Acco- 
mac.  When  brought  before  the  Governor  he  only  requested 
that  he  might  be  shot  like  a  soldier,  but  not  hanged  like  a  dog. 
Berkeley  scorned  to  consider  the  request  and  caused  him  to 
be  hanged.  Hansford  has  been  designated  the  first  native 
martyr  to  American  liberty.  When  William  Drummond,  one 
of  Bacon's  commanders,  was  capture;!  and  brought  before 
Berkeley,  the  hard-hearted  old  tyrant  said:  "]\Ir.  Drummond, 
you  are  very  welcome.  I  am  more  glad  to  see  you  than  any 
man  in  Virginia.  ]\Ir.  Drummond,  you  shall  be  hanged  in  half 
an  hour,"  and  it  is  jeported  that  the  sentence  was  actually 
carried  out  inside  of  two  liiours, 

A  very  touching  story  is  told  concerning  Major  Chees- 
man,  another  of  Bacon's  followers.  It  is  said  that  when  the 
major  was  brought  before  the  Governor,  he  was  asked  why 
he  had  joined  Bacon,  and  before  he  oould  make  a  reply  his 
wife  came  in  and  bowed  before  Governor  Berkeley.  She 
declared  that  she  had  urged  her  husband  to  fight  with  Bacon, 
and  that  but  for  her  influence  he  would  not  have  taken  part 
in  the  rebellion.  Upon  her  bended  knees  she  begg'ed  Sir  Wil- 
liam to  hang  her  instead  of  her  husband.  The  Governor, 
furious  with  her,  called  her  by  an  msulting  name  and  ordered 
her  husband  to  be  thrown  into  prison,  where  he  Sioon  died 
from  bad  treatment. 


238  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA. 

Berkeley  in  his  punishment  of  the  offenders  went  too  far, 
and  finally  the  King-  in  England  listened  to  the  complaints 
that  came  from  Virginia.  Moreover  the  commissioners'  re- 
ports showed  that  Berkeley  had  been  excessively  harsh. 
Charles  11.  is  reported  to  have  said:  "As  I  live,  the  old  fool 
has  put  to  death  more  people  in  that  naked  country  than  I 
did  here  for  the  murder  of  my  father."  He  thereupon  recalled 
Sir  WilHam  Berkeley  in  1677  and  appointed  in  his  stead  Sir 
Herbert  Jeffries,  who  was  one  of  the  commissioners  to  re- 
port on  the  state  of  the  colony.  From  the  rebuke  given  him 
by  the  King  Berkeley  never  recovered,  and  died  soon  after- 
wards of  a  broken  heart. 

Bacon's  Rebellion  was  the  first  open  attempt  at  liberty. 
It  was  a  war  against  English  tyranny  as  exercised  by  a 
colonial  Governor.  It  was  not  intended,  however,  to  be  a 
real  war  against  England,  but  only  agsinst  Berkeley  himself. 
It  was  an  effort  on  the  part  of  Ihe  Virginians  to  manage 
their  own  affairs  in  a  way  that  would  be  for  the  benefit  o| 
the  colony.  There  is  no  doubt  that  a  majority  of  the  Vir« 
ginians  believed  that  Bacon's  principles  were  right,  but  it  i'S 
doubtful  whether  a  majority  really  favored  open  rebellion 
against  the  Governor.  We  know,  however,  that  the  wealthier 
planter  class  of  Virginia  were  in  svmpathy  with  Berkeley, 
and  many  of  them,  among  them  Philip  Ludwell,  thought  that 
Bacon  and  his  followers  were  what  in  these  modern  days 
would  be  termed  socialists. 

Bacon  will  always  be  one  of  Virginia's  heroes,  because 
he  stood  for  the  abolition  of  privileges,  for  the  overthrow 
of  monopolistic  ideas,  and  for  equal  rights  to  all  freemen. 
He  was  not  far  from  being  a  type  of  the  modern  American 
leader  who  proclaims  as  a  fundamental  principle,  "The  peo- 
ple must  be  heard." 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

THE  PASSING  OF  JAMESTOWN  AND  THE  RISE  OF 
WILLIAMSBURG. 

The  story  of  the  rise  and  of  the  decline  of  Jamestown, 
"the  cradle  of  the  republic,"  is  most  pathetic.  From  the  out- 
set it  was  a  fateful  struggle  against  an  environment  that  made 
failure  inevitable.  It  never  really  achieved  the  growth  that 
warranted  so  dignified  a  title  as  ''J^^'i'^es  City."  It  was  always, 
even  in  its  most  flourishing  days,  "small,  poor  and  insignifi- 
cant." Its  history  is  a  pitiful  story  of  disaster  after  disaster, 
which  resulted  finally  in  its  complete  abandonment  and  the 
removal  of  the  capital  to  the  Middle  Plantation. 

When  Smith  left  the  colony  in  1609  it  had,  according  to 
his  statement,  within  the  fort  besides  the  church  house  forty 
or  fifty  huts.  These  were  of  the  rudest  construction  and 
were  doubtless  built  with  little  regard  to  the  very  precise 
plans  that  had  been  furnished  in  the  instructions  of  the  Lon- 
don Company. 

By  the  year  1623  these  buildings,  instead  of  having  been 
added  to,  had  been  diminished,  30  that  it  is  said  there  were 
only  twenty-two  dwelling  houses  in  the  town  besides  the  pub- 
lic buildings.  These  dwelling  houses  were  of  a  more  sub- 
stantial sort,  and  were  perhaps  capable  pi  accommodating  a 
larger  population  than  the  forty  or  fifty  wretched  huts  left 
by  John  Smith. 

After  the  Indian  massacre  of  1622  there  was  no  increase 
in  the  population  of  the  town  and  scarcely  any  progress  made 
at  all  in  its  improvement. 

239 


240  COLONIAL   VIRGINIA. 

In  the  year  1636  the  Grand  Assembly,  stimulated  by  in- 
structions from  England,  became  interested  in  the  improve- 
ment and  enlargement  of  the  town.  It  passed  an  act  grant- 
ing a  house  lot  and  a  garden  plot  to  'every  settler  who  would 
agree  to  build  thereon  within  six  months.  This  provision, 
however,  did  not  induce  any  great  number  of  people  to  leave 
their  country  homes  and  seek  residence  in  the  capital  city. 
In  1638  this  act  was  re-enacted.  The  latter  endeavor  seems 
to  have  been  crowned  with  moderate  success,  for  twelve 
dwellings  were  built  and  also  a  store.  Among  these  was  the 
first  brick  house  of  the  colony.  This  house  was  16x24  feet 
in  its  ground  plan  and  arrangement. 

When  Governor  Berkeley  came  to  the  colony,  in  1642,  he 
brought  very  urgent  instructions  to  rebuild  t!he  town  in 
brick.  He  set  about  this  task  in  his  usual  vigorous  fashion. 
As  an  inducement  ipP  the  people  to  come  into  the  town  and 
build  brick  houses,  it  was  ordered  that  every  person  who 
would  build  a  brick  house  16x24  feet,  with  a  cellar,  would 
have  an  additional  five  hundred  acres  of  land  to  his  grant 
of  lot  and  garden  plot. 

With  all  the  encouragement  given  by  the  Assembly  to 
induce  people  to  build  in  the  city,  there  was  still  left  a  great 
many  unoccupied  Ipis,  some  of  which  were  reserved  by  per- 
sons who,  for  one  reason  and  another,  had  not  built  houses 
thereupon.  In  1643  the  Assembly  ordered  that  whosoever 
should  build  on  one  of  these  deserted  lots  would  thereby  'se- 
cure a  title  to  the  lot,  provided  he  built  of  brick  and  paid 
back  taxes.  It  was  provided  that  even  if  the  owner  of  such 
a  lot  would  turn  up  at  a  later  day,  he  mig'ht  be  allovi^ed  to 
select  another  unimproved  lot,  but  would  not  be  allowed  to 
dispossess  the  person  who  had  built  upon  his  lot. 

In  order  to  stimulate  general  interest  in  the  capital  city 
and  to  induce  regular  visitations  on  the  part  of  people  from 


THE  PASSING  OF  JAMESTOWN.  241 

the  country  districts,  a  law  was  passed  establishing  market 
days  in  Jamestown  on  Wednesdays  and  Saturdays,  but  this 
expedient  likewise  proved  a  failure,  and  the  law  was  re- 
pealed in  1665.  In  one  of  the  schemes  exploited  it  was  urged 
that  the  owners  of  plantations  should  build  in  the  town  near- 
est his  plantation  a  dwelling  house  in  which  he  and  his  family 
should  reside;  the  planter  managing  his  estate  by  daily  visits 
frpm  his  residence  in  the  city.  It  was  further  urged  that  on 
Saturday  afternoons  all  servants  were  to  be  relieved  of  their 
work,  and  that  they  should  be  ordered  to  leave  the  plantation 
with  only  a  sufficient  number  left  upon  each  plantation  to 
protect  it,  and  to  go  into  the  neighboring  towns  with  their 
masters  and  remain  until  after  the  Sabbath  had  passed. 
This  device  was  recommended  as  being  an  expedient  which 
would  draw  into  the  towns  a  large  number  of  people,  and 
would  also  furnish  an  opportunity  for  religious  instruction, 
especially  to  the  servants  and  slaves  on  the  plantations.  It 
was  soon  found,  however,  that  it  was  quite  impossible  to 
carry  out  such  suggestions. 

In  1662  Sir  William  Berkeley,  who  had  been  restored  to 
his  position  as  Governor  of  the  colony  on  the  return  of  the 
Stuarts  to  power,  was  commanded  to  use  every  endeavor, 
not  only  to  build  up  Jamestown,  but  to  induce  the  planters 
tp  erect  a  town  at  some  convenient  point  upon  every  impor- 
tant river.  It  was  understood,  however,  that  Jamestown 
was  to  continue  to  be  the  seat  of  the  g:overnment,  and  spe- 
cial care  was  to  be  taken  to  see  that  its  interests  were  safe- 
guarded. The  Governor  was  commanded  by  the  English 
government  to  build  several  houses  himself  in  the  town,  and 
was  likewise  instructed  to  say  to  the  members  of  the  Council 
that  the  English  authorities  would  be  greatly  pleased  if  each 
member  of  the  Council  would  erect  a  residence  at  James- 
town. 


242  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA. 

The  General  Assembly  sought  by  prompt  legislation  to 
co-operate  with  the  authorities  in  England  and  with  the  Gov- 
'ernor  and  Council  in  the  effort  to  promote  the  building  of 
the  towns  in  the  colony,  and  especially  to  build  up  James- 
town, as  the  most  important  of  the  colonial  towns.  By  spe- 
cial legislation  it  was  sought  to  make  Jamestown  the  single 
port  of  entry  for  the  entire  colony,  making  a  law  that  all  to- 
bacco should  be  shipped  from  that  point,  and  that  ships 
bringing  supplies  for  the  settlers  should  not  break  their  cargo 
until  Jamestown  had  been  reached.  The  law  that  was  passed 
in  1662  was  most  elaborately  drawn,  and  seemed  to  cover 
every  imaginable  detail  in  the  great  scheme  of  building  up 
towns  in  Virginia.  It  provided  that  towns  should  be  built 
en  the  York,  Rappahannock  and  Potomac  Rivers,  and  on 
the  Eastern  Shore  of  Virginia.  In  this  act  it  was  provided 
that  there  should  be  thirty-two  houses  in  Jamestown.  Each 
house  was  to  be  constructed  of  brick  and  was  to  be  40x20 
feet,  and  18  feet  in  height.  The  walls  were  to  be  of  brick, 
and  the  roof  was  to  be  of  tile  or  slate  and  was  to  have  a 
pitch  of  fifteen  feet. 

In  order  to  carry  out  this  scheme  with  as  much  dispatch 
and  thoroughness  as  possible,  each  of  the  seventeen  counties 
in  Virginia  was  ordered  to  build  a  house  at  Jamestown  at 
its  own  expense.  The  most  minute  care  was  taken  that  this 
scheme  be  put  into  operation  as  soon  as  possible  and  with  as 
little  friction  as  possible.  The  cost  of  material,  the  wages 
of  mechanics  and  laborers,  their  entertainment  at  the  taverns 
in  Jamestown,  were  all  matters  of  careful  legislation.  It  was 
provided  that  the  tobacco  crops  of  James  City,  Charles  City 
and  Surry  should  be  brought  to  Jamestown.  The  penalty 
for  failure  to  do  this  was  to  be  a  fine  of  one  thousand  pounds 
of  tobacco. 

It  was   furthermore   provided   that   the   person   and  pro- 


THE  PASSING  OF  JAMESTOWN.  243 

perty  of  every  man  living  in  the  town  should  for  two  years 
be  exempt  from  every  form  of  legal  process,  unless  it  was  for 
debt  created  within  the  bounds  of  the  city  or  for  the  com- 
mission of  a  capital  offense. 

The  proceeds  coming  from  the  levy  of  thirty  pounds  of 
tobacco  a  head  for  the  building  up  of  towns  in  Virginia  for 
the  first  year  were  to  be  spent  in  the  improvement  and  ex- 
tension of  Jamestown.  After  the  first  year  these  proceeds 
were  to  be  used  in  the  building  of  towns  in  Accomac,  and 
on  the  York,  Rappahannock  and  Potomac  Rivers. 

As  might  well  be  imagined,  these  various  expedients 
proved  only  moderately  successful  as  far  as  Jamestown  was 
concerned,  and  provoked  widespread  dissatisfaction  among 
the  settlers  throughout  Virginia. 

In  the  year  1676,  at  the  outbreak  of  the  Bacon  Rebellion, 
there  were  really  only  sixteen  or  eighteen  dwellings  in  the 
town.  The  church  was  built  of  brick  and  was  described  as 
being  "fair  and  large."  In  the  sixteen  or  eighteen  dwelling 
houses  there  were  said  to  be  about  a  dozen  families  obtaining 
their  living  by  "keeping  ordinaries  at  extraordinary  rates." 

In  spite  of  the  great  and  persistent  efforts  that  had  been 
made  to  interest  the  settlers  in  Jamestown  as  the  capital 
city,  there  does  not  appear  to  have  been  among  the  settlers 
the  least  pride  or  interest  in  the  town.  The  spirit  of  rebel- 
lion was  So  rife  and  strong  at  the  time  of  the  outbreak  of 
Bacon  and  his  followers  that  the  town  was  looked  upon  as 
being  a  part  of  the  system  agiinst  which  they  were  in  re- 
bellion. And  so  when  Bacon  drove  Berkeley  out  of  the  town 
the  place  was  reduced  to  ashes  by  the  soldiers  of  Bacon,  it 
being  said  that  Drummond  and  Lawrence  set  fire  to  their 
own  homes.  So  complete  was  che  destruction  of  the  town 
that  when  the  English  regiments  were  dispatched  to  the 
colony  to  put  down  the  insurrection,  they  were  not  able  to 
find  shelter  anywhere  in  the  town. 


244  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA. 

For  a  number  of  years  after  Jamestown's  destruction  by- 
Bacon,  very  little  was  done  towards  its  rehabilitation.  There 
was  plainly  a  strong  desire  among  the  people  to  have  the 
old  town  remain  as  it  was — in  ashes.  They  were  perfectly 
contented  to  live  in  their  own  separate  homes,  caring  little 
whether  the  General  Assembly  had  a  place  to  meet  in,  or 
whether  there  was  a  town  known  as  the  capital  of  Virginia. 

When  the  commissioners  came  from  England  to  inquire 
into  the  reasons  for  the  uprising,  they  recommended  that  the 
town  be  rebuilt.  When  Culpeper  was  appointed  Governor 
he  was  commanded  to  rebuild  Jamestown  and  to  establish 
there  again  the  executive  offices  of  the  colony.  And  again 
the  crown  declared  that  it  would  be  a  matter  of  personal 
satisfaction  to  him  if  the  members  of  the  Council  would 
build  houses  at  Jamestown  and  dwell  there. 

In  1680,  after  the  arrival  of  Culpeper,  it  was  sought,  by 
the  passing  of  an  act  known  as  "The  Act  of  Cohabitation," 
to  resort  again  to  the  scheme  of  building  up  towns  in  Vir- 
ginia. This  act  provided  that  there  should  be  as  many  towns 
as  there  were  counties,  at  accessible  and  convenient  places. 
It  was  designed  that  these  towns  should  be  the  centres  of 
the  social  and  commercial  life  of  each  district.  All  goods  that 
were  for  sale  were  to  be  brought  into  these  towns,  and  all 
things  that  the  settlers  needed  to  buy  must  be  purchased 
in  these  towns.  If  there  was  any  complaint  that  the  expense 
incident  to  the  establishment  of  a  town  was  too  great  to  be 
borne  by  any  single  county,  it  was  provided  that  two  counties 
might  unite  in  building  a  town  at  a  location  convenient  to 
the  counties  involved.  This  act  did  not  seek  to  make  ports 
of  entries  at  towns  built  upon  the  rivers  of  Virginia,  but  the 
counties  were  allowed  to  select  a  site  as  a  port  of  entry  most 
convenient  to  the  majority  of  its  inhabitants.  There  seems 
to  have  been  an  honest  effort  to  carry  out  the  provisions  of 


THE  PASSING  OF  JAMESTOWN.  245 

this  cohabitation  act,  but  in  the  course  of  ten  years  or  more 
it  was  realized  that  this  endeavor  to  build  up  towns  had  gone 
the  way  of  every  other  effort  in  that  direction. 

In  1690  an  act  known  as  "The  Act  for  Ports"  was  passed. 
This  was  in  essential  agreement  with  the  other  acts  that  had 
been  passed  in  the  effort  to  build  up  towns  and  to  establish 
certain  ports  of  entries.  It  differed  from  the  other  acts  only 
in  the  matters  of  detail,  the  general  design  and  purpose  being 
the  same,  Mr.  Nicholson,  who  was  then  Governor  and 
who  had  taken  gr'eat  interest  in  the  passage  of  the  act, 
openly  expressed  his  dislike  for  the  law  the  following  year 
and  sought  tio  secure  its  repeal.  In  i6g2-'gT,  the  statute  really 
was  suspended  by  the  Assembly,  after  it  had  been  in  opera- 
tion only  for  several  months.  It  was  given  as  an  excuse  for 
the  suspension  of  this  act  that  the  consent  of  the  authorities 
in  England  had  not  been  secured  to  the  scheme.  The  real 
truth,  however,  is  that  the  people  stubbornly  refused  to  be 
dislodged  from  their  plantation  life.  They  insisted  that  na- 
ture would  settle  all  of  these  economic  questions  involved  in 
the  building  up  of  towns,  and  never  while  it  was  cheaper 
and  easier  for  them  to  have  their  own  ports  of  entry,  receiv- 
ing goods  and  shipping  goods  from  their  own  private  wharves, 
would  they  ever  be  likely  to  consent  tO'  the  abandonment  of 
this  simple  and  natural  method  for  any  artificial  and  elaborate 
requirement  of  the  Assembly. 

In  1698  there  came  another  royal  communication  to  the 
effect  that  Jamestown  must  be  enlarged.  But  the  following 
year  the  General  Assembly  passed  an  act  for  the  establish- 
ment of  the  city  of  Williamsburg,  nearly  eight  miles  north- 
east of  Jamestown ;  and  for  the  erection  of  a  Statehouse 
there  it  provided  that  the  cost  thereof  should  be  secured  by 
a  tax  on  all  slaves  imported  into  the  colony,  and  upon  all 
servants  brought  into  the  colony  not  born  in  England  or 
Wales. 


246  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA. 

After  the  fire  of  1698  Jamestown  gradually  wasted  away, 
and  twenty-three  years  later  there  was  nothing  left  but  "an 
abundance  of  brick  rubbish,"  and  three  or  four  good  inhabit- 
able houses.  In  1807  there  were  only  two  dwellings  on  the 
island,  the  Jacquelin-Ambler  mansion  and  the  Travis  mansion. 
In  1861  only  the  Jacquelin-Ambler  mansion  remained  stand- 
ing, and  this  was  burned  during  the  course  of  the  Civil  War. 
This  house  was  afterwards  rebuilt,  but  in  1896  it  was  again 
destroyed  by  fire. 

Mr.  Young,  in  perhaps  the  best  and  most  accurate  and 
exhaustive  treatment  ever  given  to  the  site  of  Jamestown, 
has  the  following  to  say  with  regard  to  the  wasting  away  of 
the  original  site  of  the  town,  it  having  been  the  opinion  for 
many  years  by  men  presumed  to  be  thoroughly  competent, 
that  much  of  the  original  site  of  the  town  had  been  eaten 
away  by  the  tides  and  currents  of  the  river: 

"As  it  is  the  general  opinion  that  the  greater  part  of  the 
ancient  town  site  had  been  washed  away,  it  will  be  a  pleasant 
surprise  to  many  to  learn  that  this  view  is  erroneous.  The 
proof  of  the  error  is  furnished  in  the  old  James  City  Patent 
Records,  which,  when  properly  interpreted,  show  that  but  a 
small  portion  of  the  town  site  has  been  destroyed  and  that 
the  quarter  called  the  'new  town'  has  not  been  encroached 
upon  to  any  appreciable  extent  by  the  river." 

There  seems  to  have  been  no  special  ceremony  in  con- 
nection with  the  transfer  of  the  seat  of  government  from 
Jamestown  to  Williamsburg.  It  must,  however,  have  been 
with  mingled  emotions  of  regret  and  satisfaction  that  the  old 
capital  was  abandoned.  One  wonders  if  these  people  had  any 
appreciation  of  the  important  place  which  the  straggling  vil- 
lage was  forever  to  hold  in  the  annals  of  civilization. 

Here  it  was  that  the  English  first  found  a  permanent  foot- 
hold on  the  new  continent;  here  was  the  cradle  in  which  the 


THE  PASSING  OF  JAMESTOWN.  247 

infant  nation  was  rocked  and  nourished ;  liere  tlie  star  of  em- 
pire took  up  its  journey  westward,  from  Orient  to  Occident, 
in  the  continental  sweep  of  America's  growth  and  civiHza- 
tion;  here  was  inaugurated  the  first  American  commerce, 
which  now  crosses  every  sea  and  reaches  every  distant  slijore ; 
here  was  established  the  first  legislative  assembly  on  the  new 
continent,  where  was  promulgated  with  increasing  clearness 
and  insistence  those  great  principles  of  human  rights  and  lib- 
erty that  gave  birth  to  the  American  republic,  the  consum- 
mate flower  of  democracy ;  here  first  fell  the  shadow  of  Afri- 
can slavery,  the  deep  problems  of  which  still  wait  for  ultimate 
solution;  here  was  erected  the  first  Protestant  Christian 
church,  whose  persistent  and  pervasive  influence  has  stamped 
lOurs  as  a  Christian  nation. 

When  one  considers  the  influence  for  the  world's  better- 
ment and  emancipation  that  went  forth  from  this  insignificant 
village,  one  is  reminded  of  the  obscure  village  that  nestles 
among  the  Judean  hills  of  Palestine,  of  which  the  hymnologist 
sang : 

"O  little  town  of  Bethlehem! 
How  still  we  see  thee  lie. 
Above  thy  deep  and  dream-like  sleep 
The  silent  stars  go  by. 

"Yet  in  thy  dark  streets  shineth 
The  Everlasting   Light; 
The  hopes  and  fears  of  all  the  years 
Are  met  in  thee  to-night." 

The  Middle  Plantation,  to  which  the  capital  was  removed 
by  reason  of  the  formal  act  pi  the  Assembly  in  1699,  was  a 
little  over  seven  miles  distant  from  Jamestown,  and  is  de- 
scribed as  a  "more  salubrious  situation."  It  is  about  midway 
between  the  York  River  and  the  James  River.    Streams  near 


248  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA. 

the  town  find  their  way,  some  to  the  York  River  and  others 
to  the  James  River. 

The  provision  for  the  establishment  of  the  new  capital 
were  made  in  great  elaborateness  and  detail.  It  was  pro- 
vided first  of  all  that  in  the  town  plot  there  should  be  re- 
served four  hundred  and  seventy-five  square  feet  of  land  as 
a  site  for  a  Statehouse,  with  an  area  of  two  hundred  feet  in 
all  directions  to  remain  unoccupied  and  unobstructed.  The 
town  itself  was  to  be  built  upon  two  hundred  and  eighty- 
three  acres.  Two  hundred  and  twenty  acres  were  intended 
to  be  occupied  by  houses,  and  fifteen  acres  were  designated 
as  a  roadbed  that  should  lead  from  the  town  to  Queen's 
Creek,  which  flowed  into  the  York  River.  Here  was  reserved 
some  fourteen  acres  for  a  port,  it  being  provided  that  twenty- 
three  acres  should  be  reserved  for  a  similar  purpose  on 
Archer's  Hope  Creek,  which  finds  its  way  to  the  James  River. 
The  selection  of  the  ground  upon  which  the  town  was  to  be 
built  was  left  to  a  jury  of  twelve  men  taken  from  the  coun- 
ties of  York,  New  Kent  and  James  City.  These  all  were  re- 
quired to  be  freeholders,  and  none  of  them  to  be  related  by 
blood  or  marriage  to  the  owners  of  the  property.  Their  se- 
lection was  reported  to  the  secretary  of  the  colony,  and  im- 
mediately the  trustees,  who  had  already  been  appointed,  were 
authorized  to  enter  upon  the  land  as  an  absolute  estate  and 
inheritance  to  be  held  in  trust  for  the  object  defined  in  the 
statutes.  Any  lot  with  a  house  standing  upon  it  was  not  in- 
cluded in  this  transfer,  the  ownership  of  which  remained  with 
the  original  owner. 

Town  lots  were  to  be  one-half  acre  In  size,  and  the  trus- 
tees were  instructed  to  convey  these  lots  to  purchasers  when 
they  had  paid  fifty  per  cent,  of  the  original  cost  to  the  gov- 
ernment. The  lots  were  sold  with  the  understanding  that 
the  purchaser  should,  within  a  space  of  two  years,  build  a 


-vJ    ■l.'^'J^f^i 


The   Old   Powder   Horn,    Williainsbiirg. 

Built  in   1714. 


THE  PASSING  OF  JAMESTOWN.  249 

dwelling  twenty  feet  In  width  and  thirty  feet  in  length.  AH 
houses  were  to  be  built  upon  a  line  and  within  six  feet  of  the 
roadway. 

The  new  capital  had  from  Lh.e  outset  a  most  satisfactory 
development.  Already  there  had  been  erected  the  building 
for  the  use  of  the  College  of  William  and  Mary.  This  build- 
ing was  designed  by  Sir  Christopher  Wren,  and  was  admir- 
ably adapted  for  the  purpose  for  which  it  was  intended.  It 
was  in  this  building  that  the  Housr;  of  Burgesses  met  until 
1705.  In  that  year  was  completed  the  capitol  building.  The 
word  "capitol,"  with  reference  to  State  buildings,  was  used 
for  the  first  time  in  connection  with  the  new  building.  This 
building  was  located  at  the  opposite  end  of  the  Duke  of  Glou- 
cester Street.  It  was  built  in  the  shape  of  the  letter  "H," 
with  a  portico  in  front,  and  it  was  two  stories  high.  The 
foundations  of  this  old  building  remain  in  a  fine  state  of  pre- 
servation until  this  day. 

Nearby  the  capitol  building  was  erected  the  famous 
Raleigh  Tavern,  which  was  a  frame  building,  a  story  and  a 
half  high,  with  a  wing  on  each  side.  The  room  known  as 
"The  Apollo  Room"  is  the  most  interesting  apartment  in 
the  old  tavern.  In  this  room  was  a  deep  fireplace  with  a 
door  'on  either  side,  and  it  was  adorned  with  carved  wainscot- 
ing under  the  windows  and  over  the  mantels. 

When  Spotswood  became  Governor,  a  palace  for  the  use 
of  the  Governor  was  built  midway  between  the  college  and 
the  capitol  building,  upon  an  estate  of  about  four  hundred 
acres.  This  building  was  crowned  with  a  cupola,  which  was 
illuminated  on  the  King's  birthday.  A  school  building, 
owned  by  the  college,  has  been  built  upon  the  site  occupied 
by  this  old  mansion. 

In  the  public  square  of  the  town,  under  the  supervision 
of  Governor  Spotswood  and   in  obedience  to  an  act  of  the 


250  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA. 

Assembly,  was  built  the  octagonal  brick  Powder  Horn.  This 
building  was  also  designed  by  Sir  Christopher  Wren.  At 
one  time  it  was  surrounded  by  iin  outer  wall,  and  the  entire 
premises  were  used  as  a  magazine,  armory  and  blacksmith's 
shop. 

In  1715  the  old  Bruton  Church  was  erected,  and  this,  too, 
under  the  supervision  of  Governor  Spotswood.  It  was  cruci- 
form in  shape,  having  a  tower  at  the  west  end  that  looked 
towards  the  college  building,  it  was  built  of  bricks  made 
in  English  molds.  The  windows  were  small  squares  of 
plain  white  glass,  most  of  which  still  remain.  The  church 
was  surrounded  by  a  low  brick  wall  with  a  stone  coping. 
The  land  upon  which  the  church  was  built  was  the  gift  of 
Sir  John  Page.  Flagstone  walks  led  from  the  street  to  the 
church,  and  the  aisles  of  the  church  were  paved  with  the 
same  material.  The  Governor's  pew  was  a  conspicuous  fea- 
ture in  the  church  furnishings.  It  was  elevated,  square  in 
shape  and  canopied  over  with  rich,  red  silk.  It  occupied  one 
of  the  corners  made  in  the  transept  and  nave.  There  was 
the  usual  high  pulpit,  with  a  sounding-board  in  the  rear.  The 
choir  was  located  behind  the  pulpit,  and  the  chancel  was  at 
the  eastern  end. 

Among  other  prominent  buildings  was  the  house  used 
for  the  president  of  William  and  Mary  College.  This  house 
was  occupied  by  Lafayette's  troops  during  a  part  of  the 
Revolutionary  War,  and  was  accidentally  destroyed  by  fire; 
but  was  afterwards  rebuilt  as  a  gift  from  Louis  XVI.  This 
house  was  also  used  for  a  while  as  the  headquarters  of  Lord 
Cornwallis.  Towards  the  close  of  the  War  of  the  Revolu- 
tion, Washington  had  his  headquarters  at  the  home  of  Chan- 
cellor Wythe,  on  Palace  Green. 

There  was  also  built  in  1769  the  courthouse,  which  was 
designed  likewise  by  Sir  Christopher  Wren.  Of  these  build- 
ings there  remain  the  Powder  Horn,  the  Bruton  Church  and 


THE  PASSING  OF  JAMESTOWN.  251 

the  courthouse,  all  of  which  are  thorougfhly  well  preserved, 
after  having  passed  through  the  vicissitudes  pf  two  great 
wars.  Chancellor  Wythe's  house  still  remains,  as  also  the 
homes  of  Peyton  and  Edmund  Randolph,  John  Blair  and 
others  of  Revolutionary  fame,  "with  their  quaint  stone  steps, 
colored  doorways  and  brass  knockers,  and  with  dormer  win- 
dows, offices  and  old  rose  gardens." 

In  the  Bruton  Church  is  preserved  an  old  font  from 
which  Pocahontas  is  said  to  have  been  baptized.  This  is  a 
tradition,  and  is  beyond  a  doubt  incorrect.  There  is  pre- 
served in  this  church  the  Jamestown  communion  service, 
and  with  this  a  set  known  as  the  "Queen  Anne"  set,  washed 
with  gold  and  exquisitely  chased,  and  also  other  silver  pieces 
of  historic  interest. 

The  new  capital  soon  became  the  centre  of  the  political 
and  social  life  of  Virginia.  So  gay  was  it  that  It  is  said 
really  to  have  resembled  the  court  of  St.  James  in  its  social 
ceremonies  and  functions.  The  gentlemen  of  the  day  were 
arrayed  in  brilliantly  colored  velvets  and  ruffles ;  the  clergy- 
men were  clad  in  sombre  black ;  judges  in  scarlet  robes,  and 
the  students  of  William  and  Mary  in  academic  dress.  The 
ladies  wore  over  the  booming  hoop-skirt  gowns  of  rich  bro- 
cade, trailing  to  the  floor,  their  heads  adorned  with  feathers, 
ribbons  and  lace,  and  dressed  exceeding  high.  The  mingling 
cf  these  brilliant  colors  and  the  quaint  costumes  presented 
a  most  picturesque  and  fascinating  spectacle  in  the  social  life 
of  the  new  capital.  As  early  as  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth 
century  theatre-going  was  introduced,  a  company  from  Eng- 
land presenting  "The  Merchant  of  Venice"  to  Williamsburg 
society.  It  has  been  said  that  the  Apollp  Room,  at  the 
Raleigh  Tavern,  probably  witnessed  more  scenes  of  brilliant 
festivity  and  political  excitement  than  any  other  single  apart- 
ment in  North  America. 


252  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA. 

If  Jamestown,  the  old  capital,  was  "the  cradle  of  the 
republic,"  Williamsburg,  the  new  capital,  was  the  birthplace 
of  the  American  Revolution.  It  was  from  the  Powder  Horn 
magazine  that  Dunmore  stole  the  powder  with  which  Nor- 
folk was  attacked  and  burned.  It  was  at  Williamsburg  that 
the  demand  for  liberty  was  crystallized  into  the  famous  reso- 
lution, unanimously  and  enthusiastically  passed,  in  which  were 
instructed  the  delegates  to  the  Continental  Congress  to  de- 
ciare  the  united  colonies  free  and  independent  States.  It  is 
said  that  when  the  tidings  of  the  passage  of  this  resolution 
by  the  Continental  Congress  reached  Williamsburg,  the  town 
went  fairly  wild  in  its  patriotic  enthusiasm  and  demonstra- 
tion. The  bells  were  all  rung,  and  all  the  guns  were  fired, 
and  from  the  flagstaff  of  the  town  was  hauled  down  the 
British  flag. 

During  the  exciting  scenes  of  the  Revolution  the  capital 
of  Virginia  was  removed  to  Richmond.  Williamsburg,  how- 
ever, still  remains  a  most  charming  and  aristocratic  Vir- 
ginia community,  preserving  with  unaffected  pride  the  simple 
and  high  traditions  of  its  hjonorablc  past,  and  exemplifying 
still  the  grace  and  affluence  of  old  Virginia  hospitality. 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 
AN  INFANT  NATION'S  INDUSTRIES. 

With  the  colony  passing  from  the  seventeenth  into  the 
eighteenth  century  and  entering  upon  a  new  career  with  the 
capital  established  at  Williamsburg,  it  will  be  an  opportune 
time  to  inquire  into  the  industrial  condition  thati  had  ob- 
tained in  the  settlement  and  to  make  a  brief  history  of  the 
various  enterprises  that  had  been  entered  upon. 

The  members  of  the  London  Company  had  a  very  strange 
and  exaggerated  notion  of  the  climatic  conditions  of  Vir- 
ginia. They  refused  to  believe  anything  but  that  there  could 
be  produced  and  manufactured  in  Virginia  all  the  things  that 
had  hitherto  been  imported  into  England  from  other  countries. 
As  an  indication  of  the  popular  thought  concerning  Vir- 
ginia's versatility  and  fertility,  we  make  the  following  quota- 
tion from  a  sermon  by  Daniel  Price,  which  is  published  by 
Mr.  Alexander  Brown,  the  original  copy  of  which  is  in  the 
Carter  Brown  library.  The  extract  that  we  use  is  from  Mr. 
Neil's  "Virginia's  Vetusta" : 

"The  country  is  not  unlike  to  equalization  (though  not 
India  in  gold,  which  is  not  impossible  yet,)  Tyrus  for  colors, 
Basan  for  w^oods,  Persia  for  oils,  Arabia  for  spices,  Spain  for 
silks,  Narris  for  ship  building,  Netherlands  for  fish,  Pomona 
fpr  fruit,  and  by  tillage,  Babylon  for  corn,  besides  the  abund- 
ance of  mulberries,  minerals,  rubies,  pearls,  gems,  grapes,  dyes, 
fowl,  drugs  for  physic,  herbs  for  food,  ashes  for  soap,  timber 
for  building,  pastures  for  feeding,  rivers  for  fishing,  and  what- 

253 


254  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA'. 

ever  commodities  England  wanted;  also  that  virgin  country 
may  in  time  prove  to  us  the  farm  of  Britain  as  Sicily  was  of 
Rome,  or  the  garden  of  the  world  as  Thessaly,  or  the  argosy 
of  the  world  as  is  Germany." 

To  further  indicate  the  versatility  of  the  first  settlers' 
plans,  we  give  the  following  from  a  true  and  sincere  declara- 
tion given  out  by  John  Stephany  in  1609:  "A  table  of  such 
as  are  required  to  this  plantation :  four  honest  and  learned 
ministers,  two  surgeons,  two  druggists,  ten  iron  men  for 
furnace  and  hammer,  two  armorers,  two  gun  founders,  six 
blacksmiths,  ten  sawyers,  six  carpenters,  six  ship  builders, 
six  gardeners,  four  turners,  four  brickmakers,  two  dye  makers, 
ten  fishermen,  six  fowlers,  four  sturgeon  dressers  and  pre- 
servers of  the  caviare,  two  salt  makers,  six  coopers,  two 
ploughmen,  two  rope  makers,  six  vine  dressers,  two  press 
makers,  two  joiners,  two  soap  ash  men,  two  mineral  men,  two 
planters  of  sugar  cane,  two  silk  dressers,  two  pearl  drillers, 
two  bakers,  two  brewers,  two  colliers."  This  memorandum 
would  make  it  appear  that  the  enterprising  colonists  were 
about  to  lay  vigorous  bands  upon  every  form  of  industry 
known  to  man. 

Mr.  Eggleston,  in  his  "Beginners  of  the  Nation,"  declares 
in  his  chapter  on  the  "Procession  of  ]\Iotives"  "that  the  pro- 
longed movement  for  a  colonial  establishment,  which  extended 
over  the  latter  half  of  the  reign  of  Elizabeth  and  almost  the 
whole  reign  of  James  I.,  was  kept  alive  by  delusions." 

From  the  outset  the  London  Company  seems  to  have  ex- 
pected immediate  returns  and  looked  for  the  coming  of  each 
leturning  vessel  with  eager  expectancy,  doubting  nothing  but 
that  it  would  bring  cargoes  of  wealth,  if  not  of  one  sort,  of 
another.  To  meet  this  desire  of  the  company  the  colonists 
began  at  once  to  send  back  to  England  such  stuffs  as  they 
plight  lay  immediate  hpld  of.     Sassafras  was  among  these 


AN  INFANT  NATION'S  INDUSTRIES.        255 

first  commodities  exported.  At  that  time  it  was  in  great 
use  for  various  domestic  and  medicinal  purposes.  Soap  ashes 
were  made  by  burning-  the  trees,  to  which  there  was  no  end 
in  the  immediate  neighborhood,  and  which  were  scarce  in 
the  old  country.  Timber,  especially  cedar,  was  among  the 
first  of  these  exports,  and  timber  in  other  forms  made  up 
parts  of  these  early  cargoes.  This  impetuous  haste  in  creat- 
ing a  commerce  between  the  old  and  new  countries  was  evi- 
dently the  desire  to  make  good  the  statements  and  repre- 
sentations that  had  been  given  forth  by  the  London  Company 
in  their  effort  to  enlist  the  people  in  their  colonial  enterprise. 

First  and  last  they  seem  to  have  undertaken  every  con- 
ceivable form  of  industry.  They  made  a  most  vigorous  ef- 
fort to  send  from  Virginia  the  things  that  had  hitherto  been 
procured  from  the  opposite  ends  pi  the  earth.  Not  only  was 
there  an  attempt  to  produce  the  commodities  of  the  tropical 
regions,  but  also  to  furnish  those  supplies  that  had  been  ob- 
tained from  the  Baltic  and  Russia  and  the  more  northern 
countries  of  the  world. 

Among  the  first  industrial  vagaries  into  which  the  early 
settlers  were  drawn  was  the  culture  of  silk  and  its  manu- 
facture. The  knowledge  of  silk  and  tlie  demand  for  it  spread 
with  marvelous  rapidity.  When  Queen  Elizabeth  came  to  the 
throne  little  was  known  of  silk  in  England  as  a  wearing  ap- 
parel, but  in  a  little  while  after  her  reign  had  begun  the  use 
of  silk  came  into  such  general  favor  as  that  by  the  time  of 
1617  it  was  declared  by  Lord  Carew  that  "there  is  a  madness 
for  silk  instead  of  cloth." 

So  early  as  1608  James  I.  had  caught  the  contagion,  evi- 
dently from  King  Henry  IV.,  then  reigning  in  France.  He 
procured  a  private  stock  of  silkworms  and  began  to  plant 
for  himself  mulberry  trees  and  to  encourage  others  to  do 
the  same.    A  certain  Mr,  Stallenge  procured  a  license  in  1609, 


256  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA. 

for  twenty-ione  years,  to  print  and  sell  a  book  of  instructions 
for  the  planting  and  increasing  of  mulberry  trees,  the  breed- 
ing of  silkworms  and  the  making  of  silk.  Air.  Hakluyt,  who 
was  in  haste  always  to  turn  everything  to  the  advantage  of 
the  Virginia  Colony,  seized  promptly  upon  the  silk  craze  and 
announced  with  great  assurance  that  "mulberry  trees,  apt  to 
feed  silkworms  to  make  silk,  were  a  chief  commoditie  of 
Virginia." 

In  1608  there  was  begun  in  Virginia  the  raising  of  silk- 
worms and  the  effort  to  manufacture  silk.  From  these  first 
experiments  some  silk  was  sent  to  England,  which,  however, 
must  have  cost  much  more  than  it  was  sold  for  in  London. 

On  account  of  the  confusion  and  suffering  incident  to  the 
first  years  of  the  colony,  it  was  impossible  to  give  attention 
to  little  else  than  the  prot'ection  of  themselves  against  their 
enemies  and  sickness,  and  to  procure  food  enough  to  keep 
body  and  soul  together. 

The  first  effort  of  silkworm  raising  failed  in  a  very  few 
years.  The  settlers  were  fortunate  in  being  able  to  excuse 
the  failure  with  tlie  fact  that  the  rats  had  eaten  the  egg^s  of 
the  silkworms.  In  the  meantime  the  craze  for  silk  was  rap- 
idly increasing.  The  supply  was  so  limited  and  the  demand 
so  great  that  it  was  bringing  exorbitant  prices  in  the  London 
market.  In  the  year  1620  it  was  being  sold  as  raw  silk  for 
twenty-eight  shillings  per  pound.  It  was  thought  that  if  such 
prices  might  be  secured  the  culture  of  silk  would  prove  an. 
exceedingly  profitable  enterprise.  So  in  1620  plans  were 
again  projected  for  the  growth  and  manufacture  of  silk  in  Vir- 
ginia. The  Earl  of  Southampton  undertook  to  re-establish 
the  enterprise.  Every  effort  was  made  to  secure  the  best 
quality  of  silkworm  and  the  most  competent  and  skilled 
laborers  to  direct  the  enterprise,  and  to  circulate  among  the 
people  as  widely  as  possible  the  most  expert  information  con- 


AN   INFANT   NATION'S   INDUSTRIES.        257 

cerning  the  care  of  the  silkworm  and  the  growth  of  the  mul- 
berry tree,  upon  which  the  worm  was  to  feed.  A  Mr.  Bonel, 
at  the  suggestion  of  the  company,  made  a  special  book  on  the 
subject  of  silk  culture  and  the  manufacture  of  silk,  which  was 
distributed  free  of  cost  to  the  people.  Supplies  lof  worms 
were  secured  from  Italy,  Spain  and  France,  and  from  the  royal 
silk  establishment  expert  workmen  were  brought  over  to  have 
general  charge  of  the  culture  of  silk  in  the  colony.  The 
General  Assembly  lent  itself  to  the  enterprise  in  legislation 
that  sought  to  encourage,  in  every  possible  way,  the  industry. 
The  very  first  year  of  its  existence  a  law  was  passed  en- 
couraging the  planting  of  mulberry  trees.  In  order  to  create 
a  general  interest  in  the  culture  of  silk,  the  London  Company, 
in  1621,  issued  an  order  that  only  members  of  the  Council 
and  heads  of  hundreds  should  be  permitted  to  wear  garments 
made  of  silk,  except  as  the  silk  was  made  and  cultivated  by 
themselves. 

As  usual  in  those  days,  the  most  extravagant  notions  con- 
cerning the  culture  of  silk  and  the  profits  therefrom  were  cur- 
rent among  the  people.  It  was  reported  that  a  certain  woman 
had  discovered  that  the  silkworm,  if  let  alone,  would  care 
for  itself,  "to  the  instant  en':ichment  of  all  the  planters."  It 
was  also  conceived  and  recommended  that  the  Indians  would 
soon  follow  the  example  of  the  settlers  and  turn  to  the  rais- 
ing of  silk.  It  was  also  conceived  that  the  American  cater- 
pillar was  really  the  natural  silkworm,  and  by  a  little  manip- 
ulation and  encouragement  its  cocoon  would  become  suffi- 
ciently refined  to  produce  the  finest  quality  of  silk.  How- 
ever, in  1666  the  craze  for  silk  passed  away,  and  the  Assem- 
bly repealed  all  the  laws  that  had  been  made  with  reference 
to  the  culture  of  silk.  For  many  years  groups  of  growing 
mulberry  trees  remained  as  the  monuments  of  the  folly  of 
the  first  settlers  in  an  honest  and  determined  effort  to  create 
an  impossible  commerce  in  silk. 


258  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA. 

Very  early  in  the  history  of  the  colony  the  settlers  be- 
ca'me  interested  in  tlie  manufacture  of  glass.  It  was  doubt- 
less the  value  that  Indians  set  upon  glass  beads  that  sug- 
gested the  desirability  of  their  manufacture  in  the  colony. 
It  seemed  good  to  be  able  to  make  in  their  own  mints  that 
which  for  many  purposes  could  be  made  tlo  serve  as  a  me- 
dium of  exchange  between  them  and  the  Indians.  Even 
while  Smith  was  in  the  colony  he  wrote  to  the  treasurer  of 
the  company  and  spoke  of  the  desirability  of  the  manufac- 
ture of  glass,  and  asked  that  glass  workers  be  sent  over 
from  Germany  or  Poland.  Evidently  the  first  settlers  were 
under  the  impression  that  there  was  nearby  an  abundant 
supply  of  sand  out  of  which  the  glass  could  be  made,  and 
they  were  much  impressed  with  the  large  supply  of  timber 
for  fuel,  of  which  there  was  a  growing  scarcity  in  England. 

When  Newport  came  over  in  the  fall  of  1608  he  brought 
with  him  a  number  of  Dutch  and  Poles  whose  business  it 
should  be  to  manufacture  glass.  With  little  delay  a  glass 
house  was  erected  about  a  mile  from  Jamestown.  When 
Newport  returned  to  England,  after  he  had  delivered  the 
second  supply,  he  carried  some  samples  of  manufactured 
glass.  The  manufacture  of  glass  at  this  time  very  likely 
ceased  during  the  starvation  period,  and  no  effort  was  made 
to  revive  it  until  1621.  In  that  year  the  company  felt  that 
it  was  important  that  the  work  should  be  taken  up  again, 
and  entered  into  contract  witih  Captain  William  Norton, 
who  was  going  to  the  colony  with  his  family.  He  was  to 
carry  to  Virginia  laborers  skilled  in  g^ass  making,  and  was 
allowed  also  two  servants.  He  was  given  the  exclusive  right 
to  manufacture  glass  for  a  term  of  seven  years.  His  entire 
time  was  to  be  given  to  the  superintending  and  management 
of  the  works.  It  was  also  stipulated  that  he  was  to  retain  no 
beads  in  his  possession,  as  these  could  be  used  only  in  trade 


AN  INFANT  NATION'S  INDUSTRIES.        259 

with  the  Indians,  and  the  company  reserved  to  itself  all  rights 
to  barter  with  the  Indians.  It  was  soon  found  put  that  the 
company  could  not  keep  its  part  of  the  contract  with  Captain 
Norton,  and  so  the  organization  of  a  separate  company  was 
resorted  to,  and  between  this  company  and  Captain  Norton 
very  much  the  same  contract  was  entered  into.  Norton  came 
to  the  colony  and  actually  built  the  glass  house.  He,  how- 
ever, soon  died,  and  by  direction  of  the  company  the  man- 
agement of  the  glass  works  was  left  U)  Sir  Edwin  Sandys. 
The  failure  of  the  works  is  attributed  to  two  things :  the  men 
brought  over  to  work  were  very  hard  to  manage  and  were 
disposed  to  spend  their  time  among  the  Indians,  from  whom 
they  got  an  easier  and  a  more  abundant  living*.  Their  con- 
duct must  have  been  exceedingly  exasperating,  as  the  mild 
Sandys  speaks  of  them  in  this  fashion :  "That  a  more  damned 
crew  Hell  never  vomited."  This  would  be  considered  rather 
an  unbecoming  speech  by  any  pious  captain  of  industry  in 
these  latter  days.  The  other  fact  that  contributed  to  the 
failure  of  the  glass  works  is  that  there  appeared  to  be  no- 
where accessible  any  sand  suitable  for  the  manufacture  of 
glass.  Several  sand  banks  along  the  river  were  tried,  after 
which  a  cargo  of  sand  was  procured  from  Cape  Henry,  but 
it  was  found  that  the  glass  manufactured  from  it  was  of  a  very 
inferior  sort.  So,  in  sheer  desperation,  the  London  Company 
was  informed  that  sand  should  be  brought  to  America  and 
manufactured  into  glass.  This  is  a  fair  example  of  the 
thoughtless  and  hasty  way  in  which  the  settlers,  in  their 
anxiety  to  bring  things  to  pass,  undertook  to  do  Impossible 
things.  Doubtless  if  they  had  been  let  alone  they  would  have 
'soon  adapted  themselves  to  their  new  surroundings,  and  would 
at  least  have  solved  the  problem  of  their  own  support  without 
the  waste  of  time  and  energy  in  these  wild  enterprises. 

Allusion  has  been  made  to  the  iron   furnaces  at  Falling; 


26o  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA. 

Creek  that  were  destroyed  by  the  Indians  in  the  massacre 
of  1622.  The  notion  that  iron  could  be  mined  and  manufac- 
tured somewhere  contiguous  to  the  settlements  took  hold  upon 
the  minds  of  the  people  early  in  the  history  of  the  colony. 
Iron  was  discovered  by  the  Raleigh  expeditions,  and  was  re- 
ported as  being  in  large  quantities  and  of  fine  quality,  Har- 
riot, the  friend  of  Raleigh  and  the  historian  of  his  expeditions, 
speaking  of  the  discovery  of  iron  near  Roanoke  Island,  said: 

"We  found  near  the  water  side  the  ground  to  be  rocky 
and  which  was  found  to  hold  iron  richly.  I  know  nothing  to 
the  contrary  but  that  it  may  be  allowed  for  a  good  mercantile 
commodity  considering  the  small  charges  for  the  labor  and 
the  feeding  of  men,  the  infinite  store  of  wood,  the  waste  of 
v/ood  and  the  dearness  thereof  in  England  and  the  necessity 
of  ballasting  of  ships." 

On  account  of  these  considerations  Mr.  Harriot  evidently 
thought  that  such  iron  might  be  mined  to  good  advantage  and 
great  profit. 

When  Newport  returned  in  i6o'8  to  England,  he  carried 
some  iron  ore  with  his  cargo.  The  ore  was  smelted  and  sev- 
enteen tons  of  it  were  sold  at  £4  per  ton  to  the  East  India 
Company.  This  was  doubtless  the  first  iron  ever  manu- 
factured from  American  ore.  There  is  an  utter  absence  of 
proof  that  the  aborigines  knew  anything  at  all  of  the  manu- 
facturing of  iron.  Their  implements  and  vessels  were  inva- 
riably made  of  stone,  and  not  of  iron.  There  was,  to  a  small 
extent,  a  knowledge  of  the  use  of  copper,  but  there  is  no  evi- 
dence that  they  appreciated  the  value  of  iron  or  had  learned 
to  use  it. 

In  1610  Sir  Thomas  Gates  told  the  Council  in  London 
that  there  were  divers  metals,  especially  iron  ore,  in  Virginia 
lying  upon  the  surface  of  the  ground,  some  of  which  had  been 
sent  home  and  found  to  yield  as  good  iron  as  any  in  England, 


AN   INFANT   NATION'S   INDUSTRIES.        261 

In  161 7  the  Virginia  Company  sent  over  iron  workers,  with 
instructions  to  set  up  three  iron  works  at  some  desirable 
points  in  the  colony.  The  enterprise  was  undertaken  in  that 
same  year  and  was  located  at  Falling  Creek,  a  tributary  of 
the  James  River,  seven  miles  below  Richmond. 

Air.  Beverly,  in  his  "History  of  Virginia,"  alludes  to  these 
works  in  the  following  way : 

"The  works  were  set  up  where  they  made  proof  of  good 
iron  ore  and  brought  the  whole  work  so  near  perfection  that 
they  sent  word  to  the  company  in  London  that  they  did  not 
doubt  but  to  finish  the  work  and  have  plentiful  provision  of 
iron  for  them  by  the  next  Easter  in  the  spring  of  1621."  Un- 
fortunately the  three  men  who  had  been  sent  over  by  the 
London  Company,  and  who  had  been  intrusted  with  the  con- 
struction of  the  works  and  the  management  of  them,  died,  and 
a.s  there  were  no  other  men  competent  to  take  their  places, 
the  works  were  in  disuse. 

In  July,  1621,  the  company  sent  over  Mr.  John  Berkeley  to 
take  charge  of  the  works.  Mr.  Berkeley  was  accompanied 
by  his  son  and  by  twenty  laborers,  skilled  and  experienced  in 
iron  work.  They  had  not  been  long  in  the  country  before 
the  following  communication  was  received  from  the  London 
Company,  directed  to  the  Council  in  Virginia: 

"We  pray  your  assistance  in  the  perfecting  of  these  two 
works.  The  profit  will  redound  to  the  whole  colony,  and 
therefore  it  is  necessary  that  you  extend  your  authority  to  the 
utmost  limits  to  enforce  such  as  shall  refuse  the  help  to  a 
business  so  much  to  the  general  good." 

On  the  5th  of  December,  1621,  there  was  another  com- 
munication, "urging  all  possible  diligence  and  industrious  ef- 
fort to  further  and  accomplish  those  great  and  many  designs 
of  salt,  sawing  mills  and  iron."  In  1622  there  was  this  fur- 
ther communication:  "The  good  entrance  which  we  have  un- 


2.(>^  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA. 

derstood  you  have  made  in  the  iron  works  and  in  other  stable 
commodities,  let  us  have  at  least  by  the  next  return  some 
good  quantity  of  iron  and  w^ine." 

But  the  next  tidings  that  go  to  the  London  Company  are 
the  tidings  of  the  terrible  massacre  and  the  destruction  of  the 
property  at  Falling  Creek,  and  of  the  death  at  the  hands  of 
the  Indians  of  every  man  associated  with  the  works.  These 
works  were  never  rebuilt. 

In  1724,  on  the  Horse  Shoe  Peninsula,  on  the  Rapidan, 
Governor  Spotswood  built  a  town,  calling  it  Germanna. 
Here  he  built  his  own  home,  surrounding  it  with  houses  for 
v/orkmen,  with  whom  he  expected  to  operate  furnaces  for  the 
making  of  iron.  Finding  in  this  neighborhood  an  abundance 
of  iron  ore,  he  formed  a  partnership  with  Mr.  Robert  Gary 
for  the  mining  of  ore  and  the  manufacture  of  iron. 

Colonel  Byrd  has  in  his  letters  a  most  charming  account 
of  his  visit  to  these  mines  and  to  the  home  of  Governor  Spots- 
wood.  It  was  in  an  interview  on  this  visit  that  Governor 
Spotswood  was  styled  by  Colonel  Byrd  as  "the  Tubal  Cain 
of  Virginia.  As  the  first  worker  in  iron  upon  anything  like 
a  large  scale,  he  is  justly  entitled  to  this  name.  In  this  inter- 
view Governor  Spotswood  expressed  the  hope  that  his  ad- 
venture in  mining  and  manufacturing  of  iron  would  be  con- 
sidered by  the  Virginia  people  a  good  example  to  follow,  say- 
ing that  "the  four  furnaces  now  at  work  in  Virginia  circulate 
a  great  deal  of  money  for  provisions  and  all  other  necessities. 
They  took  off  a  great  number  of  hands  from  planting  tobacco 
and  provided  a  work  that  produced  large  sums  of  money  in 
England  to  the  persons  concerned  whereby  the  country  is  so 
much  the  richer;  that  they  are  providing  a  great  advantage 
to  Great  Britain  because  it  lessens  the  quantity  of  iron  ore 
imported  from  Spain,  Holland,  Denmark,  Sweden  and  Mus- 
covy, which  used  to  be  no  less  than  twenty  thousand  tons  a 
year,  though  at  the  same  time  no  sow  iron  was  imported.''- 


AN   INFANT   NATION'S   INDUSTRIES.        263 

It  was   soon  discovered   that  the  soil  of  Virginia   would 
produce  a  good  quality  of  flax.      It  seemed  to  the  settlers 
also  that  in  the  water  flag,  a  prolific  plant  in  that  section, 
they  had  found  a  fibre  which  would  prove  as  satisfactory  as 
the  fibre  of  flax.     This  plant,  when  boiled,  yielded  a  fibre  that, 
for  strength  and  length,  seemed  quite  as  good  as  the  fibre 
of  the  flax  plant.     Some  of  this  fibre  was  shipped  to  England, 
and  is  said  to  have  proved  to  be  of  excellent  quality.     It 
seemed  not  unlikely  that  the  new  colony  would  be  able  to  fur- 
nish  flax  and   linen  sufficient  to   meet  the   demands  of  the 
mother  country.    In  spite,  however,  of  the  certainty  that  flax 
could  be  made  a  profitable  crop,  it  was  cultivated  only  after 
a  desultory  fashion.    The  General  Assembly,  in  1646,  became 
interested  in  the  growth  of  flax  and  the  manufacture  of  linen, 
and  authorized  the  construction  of  two  houses  in  Jamestown, 
which  were  to  be  used  for  the  manufacturing  of  linen.     Two 
children  were  to  be  secured  from  each  county  and  brought  to 
this  home,  where  they  were  to  be  instructed  in  the  art  of 
manufacturing  linen.     Every  possible  precaution  was  taken 
that  the  children  procured  under  this  enactment  should  be 
carefully  and  adequately  provided  for  in  all  matters  pi  food, 
apparel  and  shelter.     It  remained,  however,  for  Captain  Mat- 
thews, who  lived  on  the  lower  James,  to  furnish  an  example 
of  what  might  be  done  in  the  growth  of  flax  and  the  manu- 
facture of  linen.     He  had  a  number  of  servants  and  slaves 
who  were  spinners  of  flax.     In  1687  Colonel  Fitzhugh  con- 
gratulated him  in  a  letter  upon  the  success  he  had  achieved 
in  this  enterprise.    He  also  commends  him  as  an  example  to 
the  other  planters  of  the  colony. 

When  Lord  Culpeper  was  made  Governor  in  1682,  he  un- 
dertook in  a  more  elaborate  way  than  had  ever  been  done,  to 
encourage  the  manufacture  of  linen  and  to  regulate  many  mat- 
ters incident  thereto.     It  was  sought  by  legislation  to  compel 


264  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA. 

every  tithable  to  produce  at  least  two  pounds  of  flax  and  one 
pound  of  hemp,  or  two  pounds  of  hemp  and  one  pound  of 
flax.  As  a  further  inducement  it  was  provided  that  there 
should  be  paid  out  of  the  public  levy  two  pounds  of  tobacco 
for  every  pound  of  flax  or  hemp  grown,  and  six  pounds  of  to- 
bacco for  every  ell  of  linen  cloth.  There  were  to  be  certifi- 
cates accompanying  all  claims  before  this  reward  could  be  re- 
ceived. This  statute  did  not  remain  in  operation  more  than 
three  years,  and  was  repealed  in  1685.  The  dissatisfaction 
with  the  enactment  seems  to  have  grown  out  of  the  heavy 
burden  it  imposed  in  the  matter  of  the  tobacco  rewards.  It  was 
argued  further  that  the  people  had  made  sufficient  progress 
in  the  cultivation  of  hemp  and  manufacture  of  linen,  and  did 
not  need  the  encouragement  of  the  rewards. 

The  English  government,  however,  never  entertained  the 
idea  of  the  manufacture  of  either  linen  or  woolen  cloths  in 
the  colony  with  any  degree  of  favor.  The  Englishmen  were 
willing,  to  be  sure,  that  Virginia  should  produce  raw  mate- 
rials, but  claimed  for  themselves  the  right  and  privilege  of 
manufacture.  However,  the  wishes  of  the  English  people 
did  not  greatly  concern  the  colonists.  They  were  rapidly 
learning  that  in  many  things  they  must  look  out  for  them- 
selves, and  that  if  it  should  prove  profitable  for  them  to  man- 
ufacture into  finished  products  their  own  raw  materials,  it 
would  not  be  wise  for  them  to  hesitate  to  do  so. 

The  act  that  was  repealed  in  1685  was  re-enacted  in  1693 
with  some  modifications.  This  time  the  act  provided  that 
instead  of  the  tobacco  used  for  rewards  being  taken  from  the 
general  levy,  it  was  to  be  furnished  by  each  county  to  its  own 
growers.  Under  this  new  act  three  pounds  of  tobacco  were 
to  be  given  for  every  ell  of  manufactured  linen.  The  linen 
was  to  be  not  less  than  three-quarters  of  a  yard  wide,  nor 
less  than  fifteen  yards  in  length.     Three  samples  were  re- 


AN  INFANT  NATION'S   INDUSTRIES.        265 

quired  from  each  person  claiming-  the  reward.  A  special  re- 
ward was  offered  of  eight  hundred  pounds  of  tobacco  for  the 
piece  of  the  best  quality  of  linen;  six  hundred  pounds  for  the 
second  grade,  and  for  the  third  grade  four  hundred  pounds  of 
tobacC)0  were  offered.     This  act  remained  in  force  until  1699. 

In  spite  of  all  this,  however,  the  colony  never  gave  itself 
to  any  very  general  cultivation  of  flax.  In  1698,  in  answer 
to  a  communication  from  the  Governor,  asking  to  what  extent 
the  linen  had  been  manufactured  in  the  county  of  Middlesex^ 
it  was  answered  that  the  quantity  had  amounted  annually  to 
about  fifty  yards.  This  may  be  fairly  taken  as  an  indication 
of  the  success  that  attended  the  effort  to  encourage  the  man- 
ufacture of  linen.  It  ought  to  be  understood,  however,  that 
in  many  instances  each  plantation  was  manufacturing  enough 
linen  for  its  own  use.  The  Virginians  were  not  slow  to  dis- 
cover that  it  was  easier  and  more  profitable  to  sell  tobacco 
and  buy  the  linen  than  it  was  to  manufacture  linen. 

In  the  manufacture  of  woolen  goods  the  colonists  met 
with  even  more  stubborn  resistance  from  the  English  manu- 
facturers. It  is  somewhat  amusing  to  note  how  the  new 
country  was  exploited  for  nearly  everything  else  imaginable, 
yet  seriously  deprecated  in  the  matter  of  sheep  husbandry 
and  woolen  industry.  It  was  religiously  asserted  that  the 
fact  that  God  had  denied  sheep  to  Virginia  was  an  indication 
that  the  settlers  ought  not  to  fly  in  the  face  of  Providence 
and  undertake  that  which  had  already  been  provided  for  in 
the  old  country.  There  was,  however,  an  evident  determina- 
tion among  the  colonists  to  provide  woolen  goods  at  least  for 
their  own  use.  So  determined  were  they  in  this  purpose  that 
in  1659  an  act  was  passed  prohibiting  the  exportation  of  wool. 
It  was  felt  that  England  was  not  providing  clothing  sufficient 
for  the  needs  of  the  colony,  and  in  1666  the  General  Assembly 
determined  to  take  some  active  steps  in  the  encouragement 


266  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA. 

of  woolen  goods.  Captain  Matthews,  Governor  Berkeley  and 
others  had  already  shown  that  it  was  possible  and  profitable 
for  the  planters  to  furnish  their  own  households  and  planta- 
tions with  woolen  goods.  The  court  of  each  county  was  or- 
dered by  the  General  Assembly  to  establish  a  loom  and  to  em- 
ploy a  weaver  to  work  it  in  every  county  court  town.  It  was 
later  provided  that  the  different  counties  should  build  houses 
in  which  the  children  of  poor  parents  should  be  assembled, 
and  were  to  be  taught  to  spin  and  weave  as  well  as  to  learn 
other  trades. 

Under  the  exceeding  pressure  brought  to  bear  from  the  old 
country,  in  1671  the  statute  prohibiting  the  exportation  of 
wool  was  repealed.  It  was,  however,  re-enacted  again  in  1682. 
The  Virginians  declared  that  the  manufacture  of  woolen  goods 
was  absolutely  necessary  for  the  use  of  the  colony,  and  be- 
sides advantageous,  in  that  it  gave  occupation  to  a  large  num- 
ber of  people. 

The  penalty  for  exporting  wool  or  woolen  goods  was  fixed 
at  forty  pounds  of  tobacco  for  every  pound  of  these  commodi- 
ties shipped  out  of  the  country.  A  severe  penalty  was  fixed 
against  the  ship  that  would  carry  in  its  cargo  these  woolen 
goods,  the  masters  and  seamen  being  deprived  of  their  own 
goods  and  chattels  and  subject  to  a  term  of  imprisonment. 

It  was  also  sought  by  the  act  of  1682  to  encourage  the 
manufacture  of  woolen  goods  in  very  much  the  same  way  as 
it  had  been  sought  to  encourage  the  manufacture  of  linen. 
Six  pounds  of  tobacco  were  offered  to  every  person  who  would 
bring  into  the  court  of  the  county  in  which  he  resided  a  yard 
of  woolen  cloth  three-quarters  of  a  yard  wide.  These  acts 
seem  to  have  been  measurably  successful,  and  the  attention 
of  the  planters  in  general  was  directed  to  the  policy  of  at 
least  manufacturing  for  their  own  requirements  woolen  goods. 
The  opposition  from  England  continued,  and  every  sort  of  ex- 


AN  INFANT  NATION'S  INDUSTRIES.        267 

pedient  was  resorted  to  in  order  that  the  manufacture  of 
woolen  goods  might  be  made  burdensome  and  unprofitable* 
After  all,  however,  the  acts  of  Parliament  did  not  seriously 
affect  the  Virginians,  because  they  really  had  no  purpose  to 
enter  into  the  manufacture  of  woolen  goods  beyond  the  sup- 
plying of  their  own  needs;  and  while  the  colonists  continued 
to  manufacture  woolen  stuffs,  it  was  usually  of  the  coarser 
quality,  mainly  for  the  use  of  their  servants  and  slaves.  All 
fmer  woolen  stuffs  were  always  imported  from  England. 

The  Virginians  of  the  seventeenth  and  the  eighteenth  cen- 
turies did  not  leave  behind  them  their  taste  and  appetite  fof 
wines  and  liquors,  and  it  was  very  early  suggested  to  them 
that  they  might  manufacture  their  own  wines  instead  of  im- 
porting them  at  great  cost  from  England.  Indeed,  it  was  even 
imagined  that  wine  might  be  produced  not  only  for  home  con- 
st-.mption,  but  for  exportation  as  well.  In  a  letter  from  the 
Governor  and  Council  in  Virginia  to  the  company,  in  1610,  it 
was  remarked  that  "in  every  boscage  and  common  hedge,  and 
not  far  from  our  Palisade  gates  were  thousands  of  goodly 
vines  running  along  the  ground  and  climbing  to  every  tree, 
which  yielded  plentiful  grapes  in  their  kind.  Let  me  appeal, 
then,  to  knowledge  if  these  natural  vines  were  planted, 
dressed  and  ordered  by  skilful  vinearones,  whether  we  might 
not  make  a  perfect  grape  and  plentiful  vintage  in  short  time." 

At  two  different  times  there  was  an  exportation  in  casks 
of  wine  made  in  Virginia  to  England.  In  one  instance  it  was 
claimed  that  the  wine  had  been  damaged  in  shipment  and  did 
not  fairly  represent  the  products  of  Virginia's  vintage.  In 
the  other  instance  the  wine  never  found  any  very  great  favor 
among  Englishmen  who  were  used  to  the  finer  qualities  of 
wine.  Except  for  individual  and  domestic  use  the  cultivation 
pf  the  grape  for  wine  never  assumed  any  very  large  or  hope- 
ful proportions. 


268  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA. 

It  was  said  that  Colonel  Beverley  planted  a  vineyard  in 
which  he  took  great  pride,  and  told  many  stories  of  his  ex- 
pectations as  to  the  possibilities  of  grape  culture  in  the  colony. 
It  is  said  that  on  one  occasion  his  wines  were  submitted  to  a 
gentleman  from  France,  who,  doubtless  because  he  was  a 
Frenchman,  rendered  a  very  neutral  sort  of  a  verdict  with 
reference  to  the  quality  of  the  colonel's  wines. 

The  Sainsbury  manuscripts  have  a  record  of  a  solemn  ap- 
plication made  by  a  Mr.  Russell  to  the  London  Company, 
offering  to  sell  a  recipe  for  making  wine  out  of  sassafras. 
He  explained  this  discovery  of  his  as  a  wine  that  had  all  the 
exhilarating  properties  of  grape  wine,  without  its  inebriating 
quality.  It  turned  out  afterwards  that  he  had  only  discovered 
the  concoction  of  the  later  old  Virginia  mammies,  a  tea  brewed 
from  the  roots  of  the  sassafras,  and  considered  a  cure  for  all 
the  ills  incident  to  the  spring  time.  Mr.  Russell  wanted  the 
modest  sum  oi  £  i,ooo  for  his  recipe,  with  a  small  royalty  from 
its  future  manufacture. 

Another  benevolent  gentleman  announced  with  very 
amusing*  naivete  that  there  was  a  drink  to  be  made  from 
Indian  corn  that  greatly  surpassed  the  products  of  the 
breweries  in  England.  One  wonders  if  aforetime  this  gen- 
tleman had  stumbled  into  the  process  of  making  what  is 
known  in  these  latter  days  as  the  moonshine  article  of  corn 
whiskey.  If  he  did,  there  are  numerous  successors  to  him 
who  would  doubtless  be  willing  to  testify  that  they  had  rather 
have  it  than  any  liquors  brewed  in  old  England. 

In  addition  to  the  things  that  have  been  suggested,  there 
was  an  attempt,  not  altogether  unsuccessful,  in  the  manufac- 
ture of  leather,  and  for  a  number  of  years  great  interest  was 
taken  in  the  manufacture  of  hides  and  even  of  the  finer  quality 
of  leather.  This  was  done,  however,  mainly  for  home  con- 
sumption, and  there  are  evidences  that  the  rougher  quality 


AN  INFANT  NATION'S  INDUSTRIES.        269 

of  shoes  were  manufactured  in  Virginia,  and  mainly  by  the 
individual  planters  on  their  own  plantations.  The  General 
Assembly,  as  in  the  case  of  other  attempts  in  manufacturing, 
became  greatly  interested  in  the  manufacture  of  leather,  and 
passed  various  regulations  governing  all  phases  of  the  indus- 
try. Laws  were  passed  prohibiting  the  exportation  of  hides 
and  skins,  both  tanned  and  untanned.  In  the  act  for  ports, 
passed  in  1691,  but  really  never  put  into  operation,  'an  export 
duty  was  laid  on  all  leather  and  furs  that  were  sent  from  the 
colony.  This  was  really  the  repeal  of  the  act  forbidding  the 
exportation  of  leather  and  furs.  In  1693  it  was  sought  by 
these  export  taxes  on  leather  and  furs  to  increase  the  endow- 
ment of  William  and  Mary  College.  A  tax  of  threepence 
per  pound  was  put  on  every  raw  hide,  sixpence  on  tanned 
hides,  and  one  penny  and  three  farthings  on  dressed  buckskin, 
and  one  penny  on  every  undressed  buckskin. 

In  conclusion,  it  can  be  said  that  while  many  of  these  at- 
tempts at  manufacture  seemed  to  be  impossible  and  ludicrous, 
they  were,  after  all,  prophetic  of  the  possibilities  of  this  great 
continent  and  of  the  later  achievements  of  our  great  American 
industries.  Under  primitive  conditions  and  by  the  use  of 
crude  methods,  these  early  settlers  were  attempting  in  minia- 
ture, things  that  have  been  realized  in  very  large  ways  since 
their  day.  They  made  scarcely  a  single  effort  in  any  direc- 
tion but  that  in  these  later  days  has  been  made  marvelously 
successful. 


CHAPTER  XIX. 
POLITICS  IN  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA. 

It  has  already  been  related  how  the  members  of  the  Lon- 
don Company  in  England  were  divided  into  political  factions. 
One  faction  favored  a  popular  government;  the  other  faction 
was  In  strong  sympathy  with  the  Kings  in  their  contention  for 
the  divine  right.  For  a  long  while  the  latter  faction  seems  to 
have  had  most  Influence  in  the  control  of  the  affairs  of  the 
company,  but  in  1619  the  Southampton  faction  came  into  con- 
trol and  a  liberal  policy  toward  Virginia  was  inaugurated  and 
steadfastly  pursued.  A  part  of  that  policy  was  the  establish- 
ment of  the  House  of  Burgesses  in  Virginia. 

On  the  repeal  of  the  charter  of  the  London  Company  Vir- 
ginia became  a  royal  province,  but  the  King  allowed  the  Gen- 
eral Assembly  to  remain  as  a  fixed  institution,  and  for  this 
reason  the  Interests  of  the  colony  were  usually  well  guarded. 
Frequently,  however,  the  Governors  undertook  to  override  the 
actions  of  the  Assembly,  and  the  King  reserved  to  himself,  and, 
after  1684,  to  the  commissioners  of  the  plantations  in  England, 
the  right  to  disapprove  of  laws  passed  by  the  General  As- 
sembly. There  were  just  enough  men  In  Virginia  who  had 
secured  their  lands  by  grants  directly  from  the  King  to  form 
a  party,  and  who  sympathized  with  the  Kings,  and  who  gen- 
erally supported  the  Governors  In  many  of  their  high-handed 
actions.  Generally  speaking,  therefore,  the  political  contest 
in  Virginia  from  1624  to  1776  was  one  in  which  the  peopi'e 
were  arraigned  against  the  Governors  of  the  royal  party, 

270 


POLITICS  IN  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA.         271 

In  noting  the  development  of  the  liberties  of  Virginia,  one 
observes  that  the  suffrage  basis  for  the  first  House  of  Bur- 
gesses was  a  liberal  one,  for  this  assembly  was  elected  by  the 
citizens.  For  fifty-one  years  this  basis  continued  to  exist,  but 
under  the  influence  of  Berkeley,  in  1670,  the  right  of  suffrage 
was  disliodged  from  this  broad  basis,  and  only  freeholders  were 
permitted  to  exercise  its  prerogative.  This  law  limiting  the 
suffrage  of  the  people  to  the  freeholders  was  repealed  by  the 
Bacon  Assembly,  but  the  royal  Governors  who  followed  did 
not  hesitate  to  take  up  the  fight  and  to  contend  that  the  right 
of  suffrage  should  not  be  extended  to  all  freemen,  but  should 
be  limited  to  freeholders.  Finally,  in  1705,  suffrage  by  legis- 
lation was  restricted  to  freeholders.  No  definite  statement, 
however,  was  made  as  to  how  much  land  a  freeholder  should 
own.  Governor  Spotswood  afterward  complained  very  bit- 
terly to  the  commissioners  of  plantations  in  England  that  any 
man  whjo  owned  as  much  as  a  half  acre  of  land  could  vote  in 
Virginia,  and  that  frequently  the  elections  were  controlled  by 
a  worthless  set  who  had  little  real  interest  in  the  affairs  of  the 
colony. 

The  King  had  instructed  Berkeley  fifty  years  before  to 
liave  suffrage  restricted,  and  now  the  commissioners  of  plan- 
tations and  the  King  brought  further  influence  to  bear  and 
sought  to  restrict  even  more  narrowly  the  right  of  suffrage. 
Finally,  after  the  expiration  of  forty  years  more,  it  was  de- 
cided that  no  man  should  vote  unless  he  owned  fifty  acres  of 
land  with  a  house  on  it,  or  a  house  and  lot  in  town,  or  one 
hundred  acres  of  unimproved  land.  Thus  was  inaugurated  the 
freehold  system  of  suffrage,  which  continued  in  force  in  Vir- 
ginia until  1830.  This  was  eminently  satisfactory  to  the  aris- 
tocratic class,  and  during  the  colonial  days  especially  we  find 
that  the  large  planters  felt  that  because  of  their  position  and 
influence  the  control  of  all  the  affairs  of  the  colony  should  be 
held  in  their  own  hands. 


272  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA. 

Another  matter  pf  interest  with  reference  to  the  politics  of 
colonial  Virginia  was  the  basis  of  representation  in  the  House 
of  Burgesses.  In  the  early  days,  following  the  English  custom 
of  two  knights  for  a  shire,  it  was  decreed  that  each  plantation 
should  have  two  representatives.  When  the  plantation  system 
was  abolished  and  the  counties  were  formed  in  1634,  the  same 
principle  was  applied,  and  each  county  was  allowed  two  mem- 
bers in  the  House  of  Burgesses.  This  basis  of  representation 
continued  as  the  law  until  1830.  It  was  really  a  travesty  on 
representative  government,  fpr  by  the  time  of  the  Revolution 
it  often  happened  that  one  large  county  had  a  population  from 
ten  to  twenty  times  as  great  as  a  smaller  county,  and  by  1830 
the  white  population  was  from  thirty  to  forty  times  as  great 
in  some  of  the  larger  counties  a^s  that  of  the  smaller  counties. 
Toward  the  middle  and  close  of  the  eighteenth  century  this 
foct  created  considerable  dissatisfaction  in  the  larger  counties. 
But  more  important  matters  engaged  the  mind  of  the  people 
of  politics  until  after  the  Revolution  had  been  accomplished. 

A  matter  of  common  discussion  during  the  whole  colonial 
period  was  the  question  of  taxation.  All  tobacco  exported 
from  the  colony  was  taxed  twopence  per  pound,  and  all  lands 
under  the  system  of  land  tenure  were  supposed  to  be  held  for 
the  crown,  and  rents  were  raised  on  these  lands  for  the  bene- 
fit of  the  King  and  his  government.  In  addition  to  this  the 
counties  were  divided  into  parishes,  and  in  each  parish  every 
person  over  sixteen  years  of  age,  black  or  white,  was  regarded 
as  a  tithable,  and  had  to  pay  a  poll  tax  to  the  vestry  of  the 
parish  for  the  support  of  the  church. 

The  navigation  laws,  which  required  goods  to  be  shipped 
in  any  vessel  to  English  ports,  constituted,  in  a  sense,  a  sys- 
tem of  indirect  taxation  which  was  always  oppressive  and  ex- 
ceedingly obnoxious  to  the  people.  Every  one  of  these  laws 
were  resisted  by  the  people  in  one  form  or  another.    The  fron- 


POLITICS   IN   COLONIAL   VIRGINIA.  273 

tier  county  objected  to  the  quit  rents;  the  planter  objected  to 
the  tax  on  tobacco  and  the  navigation  laws;  and  those  who 
were  not  adherents  of  the  established  church  were  stubbornly 
opposed  to  the  system  of  tithes.  Just  as  to-day  the  question 
of  taxation  is  the  most  serious  problem  with  which  our  legis- 
lators have  to  deal,  /so  it  was  in  colonial  days. 

Another  matter  of  interest  was  the  constant  discussion 
created  by  the  large  land  grants  made  by  the  King.  The  King 
granted  continuously  large  grants  of  land  to  his  favorites,  and 
the  last  favorite  often  received  a  grant  covering  the  land  al- 
ready occupied  or  previously  granted  to  some  one  else.  There 
was  a  Qonstant  confusion  and  discussion  as  to  whether  this 
was  just  and  right,  and  appeals  were  frequently  made  to  the 
commissioners  of  plantations  that  this  system  should  be  abro- 
gated. 

In  the  early  years  of  the  colony,  that  is,  before  1632,  the 
usual  grant  was  from  fifty  to  one  hundred  acres,  and  the 
largest  grant  reported  in  1632  was  three  hundred  and  fifty 
acres.  But  before  the  century  was  over  it  was  not  an  uncom- 
mon thing  for  the  King  tiO  hand  out  to  one  of  his  favorites 
twenty  thousand  acres  at  a  time,  and  in  the  eighteenth  cen- 
tury these  munificent  grants  ran  up  to  hundreds  of  thousands 
of  acres.  In  this  way  the  King  created  a  sort  of  land  monop- 
oly. Of  very  special  note  was  the  grant  to  Lord  Fairfax  of  a 
large  territory  of  land  out  of  which  more  than  ten  cpunties 
were  carved. 

Great  discontent  was  created  by  the  system  in  vogue  for 
the  local  government  in  the  county.  There  was  a  county 
court,  composed  of  a  number  of  justices  of  the  peace,  presided 
over  by  the  chief  magistrate.  All  of  these  individuals  were 
appointed  by  the  royal  Governor,  and  they  constituted  a  kind 
of  close  corporation,  usually  holding  office  indefinitely.  The 
only  real  county  official  was  the  high  sheriff,  whose  duty  it 


274  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA. 

was  to  see  that  the  laws  were  inforced,  collect  all  taxes,  anxl 
act  as  treasurer  of  the  county.  As  a  rule,  the  chief  magistrate 
was  appointed  sheriff  whenever  a  vacancy  occurred.  The 
county  government  was  entirely  in  the  hands  of  the  Gov- 
ernor, and  while  representatives  of  the  people  in  the  Assembly 
might  meet  and  discuss  measures  and  pass  laws,  the  county 
officials,  who  were  in  sympathy  with  the  Governor,  being  his 
appointees,  would  often  arrogantly  ignore  the  plain  acts  of  the 
Assembly.  Hence  it  was  very  difficult,  in  any  case  in  which 
the  government  was  involved,  to  secure  justice. 

If  there  ever  existed  in  Virginia  political  rings,  it  was  in 
the  early  days  of  the  colonial  period.  Even  in  matters  of  jus- 
tice in  the  higher  courts,  the  Governor  occupied  the  same 
centre  of  influence  and  power.  The  Supreme  Court  of  the 
colony  was  made  up  of  all  the  members  of  the  Council,  who 
were  appointed  by  the  King  in  England.  These  Councilors 
were  u)sually  appointed  on  the  recommendation  of  the  Gov- 
ernor, since  he  was  the  representative  of  the  King  in  Virginia, 
and  was  supposed  to  be  acquainted  with  the  best  men  who 
should  constitute  the  Council  of  the  State. 

All  questions  of  appeal  made  to  the  Council  were  naturally 
settled  in  favor  of  the  King,  or  according  to  the  wish  of  the 
Governor. 

The  whole  matter  of  colonial  government  reduced  itself 
to  a  condition  in  which  practically  all  the  affairs  of  the  govern- 
ment were  either  directly  or  indirectly  in  the  hands  of  the 
Governor,  except  that  all  laws  which  passed  through  the  Gen- 
eral Assembly  had  aliso  to  be  passed  upon  by  the  House  of 
Burgesses,  who  were  the  only  officials  elected  by  popular  vote. 
But  even  here  the  Governor  had  great  influence,  not  only  be- 
cause of  his  superior  position,  but  because  of  the  fact  that  it 
depended  upon  him  as  to  what  time  the  writs  of  election 
should  be  issued  for  a  House  of  Burgesses.     He  had  a  right 


POLITICS   IN   COLONIAL   VIRGINIA.  275 

to  disjsolve  the  House  of  Burgesses  at  will.  In  case  of  a  dis- 
solution he  could  order  a  new  election  when  he  thought  best. 
Though  the  Governors  had  so  much  power  their  official  life 
was  by  no  means  easy,  for  the  people  of  Virginia  were  con- 
stantly complaining  and  were  making  constant  appeals  to  the 
commissioners  of  plantations.  These  appeals  were  an  in- 
cessant source  of  annoyance  to  the  Governors. 

Whenever  the  people  had  the  privilege  of  voting  for  Bur- 
gesses, they  showed  their  will  in  many  ways  not  at  all  pleas- 
ing to  the  Governor.  Sometimes  they  openly  violated  the 
laws  in  force  governing  elections  by  preventing  a  sheriff  who 
was  friendly  to  the  Governor  from  making  what  they  thought 
would  be  improper  returns,  or  by  winning  the  sheriff  over 
to  their  way  of  thinking,  thus  securing  padded  returns  in 
their  favor.  On  the  other  hand,  it  is  not  to  be  forgotten  that 
the  .sheriff  often  made  wrong  returns  in  order  that  his  friends 
or  the  Governor's  friends  might  stay  in  the  Assembly.  It  is 
very  interesting  indeed  to  look  into  these  colonial  elections 
and  to  discover  the  method  which  prevailed  then,  and  to  com- 
pare them  with  the  elections  as  they  are  held  to-day. 

As  to  election  methods  in  colonial  days  we  are  not  able  to 
determine  how  the  people  voted  in  1619.  There  was  at  that 
time  no  sheriff,  but  it  was  reported  that  the  Burgesses  were 
elected  by  the  freemen,  who  met  on  the  plantations  and  de- 
cided that  certain  men  were  to  become  their  Burgesses.  It  is 
probable  that  the  first  elections  were  conducted  by  counting 
heads. 

On  the  establishment  of  counties,  the  elections  were  put 
into  the  hands  of  the  sheriff,  who  had  to  give  notice  of  the 
elections  to  be  held  to  all  the  citizens  of  their  reispective  coun- 
ties. So  when  the  sheriff  received  a  writ  from  the  Governor 
authorizing  an  election,  he  had  to  send  out  riders  to  inform 
the  people  of  the  time  when  elections  were  to  be  held  at  the 


276  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA. 

courthouse.  In  1655  a  law  was  passed  requiring  the  sheriff 
and  his  deputies  to  give  notice  within  ten  days  after  the  re- 
ceipt of  the  writ  from  the  Governor.  Notice  was  to  be  given 
from  house  to  house  to  all  persons  interested  in  the  election. 
This  was  a  great  burden  upon  the  sheriff,  especially  in  view 
of  the  fact  that  the  counties  were  very  large,  many  smaller 
counties  having  since  been  made  from  them.  As  a  matter 
of  fact  the  sheriff  seldom  performed  his  duty  fully.  It  was 
the  sheriff's  duty,  likewise,  to  hold  the  election  and  make  the 
returns,  showing  what  persons  had  been  elected,  said  returns 
to  be  made  to  the  office  of  the  secretary  of  the  colony  before 
the  meeting  of  the  Assembly.  If  in  any  way  the  sheriff  failed 
to  do  his  duty,  he  was  to  be  fined  one  thousand  pounds  of 
tobacco.  In  making  these  returns  the  sheriffs  were  often  in- 
clined to  proceed  illegally. 

The  first  act  of  illegal  proceedings  in  connection  with  an 
election  is  to  be  found  in  Hening's  "Statutes,"  in  the  year 
1661,  at  which  time  one  Walter  Bacon,  high  sheriff  of  New 
Kent,  was  fined  for  "undue  proceedings"  in  the  election  in  his 
county.  In  1662  the  method  of  notifying  the  people  was 
changed,  and  the  sheriff  was  requested,  on  receiving  a  writ,  to 
give  a  copy  of  the  same  to  every  minister  and  reader  in  every 
parish  in  his  county.  The  ministers  or  readers  were  requested 
by  law  to  announce  for  two  successive  Sundays  preceding  the 
election  the  time  of  holding  the  election.  Thus  the  church 
was  used  as  a  means  by  which  to  inform  voters  of  the  right 
they  had  to  select  members  for  the  House  of  Burgesses. 

It  is  interesting  to  note  also  that  when  a  Governor  issued 
a  writ  for  elections,  the  law  required  that  the  secretary  of  the 
colony  should  provide  for  prompt  delivery,  and  that  the  same 
should  be  sent  out  at  least  forty  days  before  the  time  for  the 
Assembly  to  meet.  The  method  of  voting  was  viva  voce. 
This  method  was  frequently  ignored  by  electors  who  lived  at 


POLITICS   IN   COLONIAL  VIRGINIA.  27; 

a  great  distance  from  the  courthouse,  and  often  they  would 
subscribe  their  names  on  a  piece  of  paper,  indicating  for  whom 
they  voted,  and  send  the  same  to  the  courthouse  by  some  elec- 
tor who  attended  the  election.  One  can  imagine  an  elector 
standing  for  hours  in  a  path  leading  through  the  woods  wait- 
ing to  catch  a  voter  who  would  carry  his  vote  to  the  court- 
house. The  sheriff  accepted  this  ballot,  so  to  speak,  and  en- 
tered it  on  the  poll  books.  By  an  act  of  1646  this  practice 
was  positively  forbidden,  and  all  voters  were  required  to  go 
to  the  courthouse  on  election  day  and  vote  viva  voce.  Many 
years  after  a  law  was  passed  to  fine  every  voter  who  did  not 
appear  and  exercijse  the  right  of  suffrage. 

No  special  provisions  were  made  for  conducting  these 
elections  until  the  year  1699.  It  was  then  provided  that  when 
all  the  voters  assembled,  if  it  could  not  be  determined  upon 
view  of  the  freeholders  who  was  elected,  that  the  sheriff 
should  proceed  to  select  as  many  clerks  as  he  thouglit  best. 
These  clerks  were  tp  iset  down  in  writing  the  names  of  each 
freeholder  and  the  person  for  whom  he  should  vote.  If  the 
candidates,  or  any  one  of  them,  should  require  it,  the  free- 
holder had  to  swear  that  he  was  a  qualified  voter  under  the 
law.  When  the  vote;  had  been  completed,  the  returns  were 
made  to  the  secretary  of  the  colony.  The  sheriff  was  also 
required  to  give  a  copy  to  each  candidate  if  he  was  so  re- 
quested to  do.  If  the  sheriff  refused  to  take  the  polls  accord- 
ing to  law,  or  to  give  copies  to  the  candidate^,  or  to  give 
legal  notice,  or  if  he  made  false  returns,  or  if  he  made  no  re- 
turns, or  if  he  made  the  returns  in  a  form  not  prescribed  by 
law,  for  each  and  every  offense  he  was  to  be  fined  £40. 
This  law  seemed  satisfactory  so  far  as  the  election^  were  con- 
cerned, but  there  was  so  much  delay  about  the  delivery  of 
the  writs  and  the  proper  notice  of  elections  that  the  Assem- 
bly, in  1705,  passed  a  law  to  remedy  this  trouble.     First,  the 


278  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA. 

writ  was  to  be  signed  by  the  Governor  and  delivered  by  him 
to  the  secretary  of  the  colony  at  least  forty  days  before  the 
time  appointed  fior  the  meeting-  of  the  Assembly.  Second, 
the  secretary  had  to  deliver  the  writs  within  ten  days  after 
their  receipt  to  the  sheriff.  Third,  the  sheriff  had  to  send 
copies  of  the  writs  within  three  days  to  the  ministers  and 
readers  of  the  parishes  in  his  county,  for  them  to  read  in  their 
churches  for  two  successive  Sundays.  Fourth,  the  method 
of  taking  the  poll  was  the  same  as  provided  for  in  the  act  of 
1699.  This  remained  the  form  of  conducting  elections  until 
the  adoption  of  the  Constitution  in  1776.  Even  after  the 
Commonwealth  had  been  established  the  viva  voce  method 
continued  until  1867.  But  with  the  adoption  of  the  Constitu- 
tion in  1776,  and  the  disestablishment  of  the  church,  the  min- 
isters and  readers  in  the  parishes  were  not  required  to  promul- 
gate the  time  of  the  elections.  As  a  definite  time  for  holding 
elections  in  each  county  had  been  fixed  by  law,  this  method 
for  giving  notice  was  not  necessary. 

On  the  day  of  the  election  throughout  colonial  days,  as  far 
as  we  are  able  to  judge,  the  candidates  or  their  agents  were 
always  present  at  the  courthouse.  They  usually  sat  on  the 
hustings  in  the  court-room,  where  they  could  hear  how  each 
vpter  polled.  The  candidate  voted  for,  on  hearing  his  name 
called,  was  accustomed  to  rise  and  bow  his  thanks  to  the  voter 
who  had  honored  him.  At  the  opening  of  the  polls  each  can- 
didate usually  made  a  speech,  stating  what  measures  he  would 
advocate.  If  he  had  been  a  member  of  the  previous  Assembly, 
he  would  explain  the  course  that  he  had  pursued  in  that  body. 
If  any  voter  was  to  be  challenged,  the  candidate  or  his  agent 
w^iould  prevent  the  sheriff  from  having!  his  name  recorded 
at  the  time  he  wajs  casting  his  vote.  This  viva  voce  method 
seems  to  have  been  entirely  satisfactory  in  colonial  days,  and 
we  discover  very  little  desire  for  the  ballot  system.    We  are 


POLITICS   IN   COLONIAL  VIRGINIA.  279 

told  that  the  Norfolk  borough  used  the  ballot  system  to  elect 
members  to  the  Convention  in  1775,  and  as  far  as  the  writer 
has  been  able  to  discover,  it  is  the  first  instance  recorded  of 
anything  of  the  kind  in  Virginia. 

As  to  the  place  of  elections  it  is  recalled  that  the  first  elec- 
tions were  held  on  plantations,  but  in  1645  it  was  declared 
that  all  elections  should  be  held  at  the  courthouse  in  the  re- 
spective counties,  unless  by  act  of  the  Assembly  other  places 
were  designated.  In  towns  the  privilege  was  given  to  hold 
elections  under  the  direction  of  the  Mayor.  It  is  interesting 
to  observe  that  the  inhabitants  of  Norfolk  borough  not  only 
voted  for  Burgesses  from  the  borough,  but  also  for  Burgesses 
from  Norfolk  county.  This  system  pi  holding  elections  at  the 
courthouses  continued  in  force  until  1830,  though  by  special 
acts  of  the  Legislature,  between  1776  and  1830,  about  seventy- 
five  separate  places  for  election  other  than  the  courthouse 
had  been  established.  The  elections  held  in  special  voting 
places  were  put  into  the  hands  of  five  commissioners  ap- 
pointed by  the  county  court.  The  voter  was  allowed  to  vote 
in  any  place,  provided  he  voted  only  once  in  any  election  in 
any  one  county ;  but  he  could  vote  in  as  many  counties  as  he 
owned  property. 

As  to  the  time  of  elections,  before  1775  it  was  absolutely 
indefinite.  Whenever  the  Governor  thought  proper  to  dis- 
solve an  Assembly  and  to  issue  a  writ  for  an  election,  he 
could  do  so,  and  the  .sheriff  announced  the  time  in  his  own 
county  which  he  would  set  for  an  election.  For  this  reason 
the  writs  had  to  be  read  in  the  churches.  It  is  probable  that 
the  elections  were  held  in  Virginia  at  intervals  of  from  three 
to  seven  years,  if  one  can  judge  from  the  list  of  Burgesses 
given  in  Hening's  "Statutes"  and  in  the  "Virginia  Magazine 
cf  Hilstory."  In  1775,  however,  the  Virginia  Convention  de- 
clared that  elections  should  be  held  annually  at  the  court- 


28o  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA. 

houses  of  the  respective  counties.  In  the  first  Virginia  Con- 
stitution this  same  principle  was  incorporated.  Since  the 
court  days  of  each  county  were  taken  as  election  days,  the 
system  was  very  different  from  that  in  vogue  at  the  present 
time,  when  the  elections  are  held  on  the  same  day  throughout 
the  State.  In  other  words,  the  Virginia  custom  was  that 
which  prevailed  in  England,  where  each  shire  holds  its  own 
election  at  a  time  which  is  fixed  upon  by  the  sheriff  as  the  most 
suitable. 

The  time  at  which  the  polls  were  to  be  open  wajs  twelve 
o'clock  in  the  day,  after  the  freeholders  had  assembled  and 
discussed  among  themselves  the  general  political  situation  and 
the  policies  that  should  be  carried  out  in  the  Assembly.  As 
soon  as  all  the  freeholders  present  had  voted,  the  sheriff  would 
announce  the  fact  at  the  door  of  the  courthouse  that  the  polls 
would  be  closed,  after  which  he  would  wait  for  a  short  while, 
and  if  no  other  voter  presented  himself,  the  list  was  then 
made  up  and  the  report  sent  off.  This  proved  unsatisfactory 
and  was  changed  so  that  the  polls  had  to  be  kept  open  until 
sundown,  and  if  more  voters  appeared  than  could  be  listed 
by  sunset,  then  the  election  was  to  continue  on  the  following 
day.  In  case  of  bad  weather  the  polls  were  to  be  kept  open 
for  three  days,  so  that  voters  from  different  parts  of  the 
county  might  be  able  to  appear  and  have  an  opportunity  to 
cast  their  vote.  The  modern  critics  of  our  present  method  of 
holding  elections  often  think  that  our  political  methods  are 
more  corrupt  to-day  than  they  were  in  colonial  days,  but  if 
the  old  records  are  to  be  relied  upon,  men  made  every  effort 
to  be  elected  by  short  cuts  and  otherwise  at  that  time  just  as 
they  do  to-day. 

The  first  mention  of  anything  bordering  on  corruption  is 
the  statement  that  a  gentleman  offered  himiself  as  a  candidate 
for  a  seat  in  the  House  of  Burg'esses  on  the  agreement  that 


POLITICS  IN   COLONIAL  VIRGINIA.  281 

if  he  were  elected  he  would  not  ask  from  the  county  the  usual 
stipend  of  tobacco  that  was  given  by  the  county  to  a  repre- 
sentative. It  was  an  appeal  to  the  people  to  vote  for  a  man 
who  would  represent  them  for  the  smallest  sum.  In  1699  the 
Astsembly  enacted  a  law  that  "No  person  or  persons  hereafter 
to  be  elected  as  a  Burgess  or  Burgesses,  shall  directly  or  indi- 
rectly, by  any  ways  or  means  at  his  or  their  proper  charge 
before  his  or  their  election,  give,  present,  or  allow  to  any  per- 
son or  persons  having  a  voice  or  vote  in  such  elections,  any 
money,  meat,  drink,  or  provisions,  or  make  any  present,  gift, 
reward,  or  entertainment,  or  any  promise,  engagement,  or  obli- 
gation, to  give  or  allow  any  meat,  money,  drink  or  provisions, 
present,  reward,  or  entertainment,  in  order  to  procure  the 
vote  or  votes  of  such  person  or  persons  for  hl^  or  their  elec- 
tion to  be  a  Burgess  or  Burgesses.  And  every  person  or  per- 
sons 'SO  giving,  presenting,  or  allowing,  making,  promising,  or 
engaging  any  money,  meat,  drink,  or  provisions,  in  ord>;r  to 
procure  such  election,  being  elected  shall  be  incapable  to  sit 
and  act  as  a  Burgess  in  that  Assembly,  but  that  such  election 
shall  be  void  to  all  intents  and  purposes  as  if  the  said  returns 
or  election  had  never  been  made." 

Evidently  there  was  some  fraud  and  bribery  being  done  in 
the  elections.  Governor  Spotswood,  about  fifteen  years  after- 
ward, complained  very  bitterly  of  the  fact  that  there  were 
many  brawls  and  much  corruption  on  election  days  because 
of  the  actions  of  the  voters.  We  find  statements  in  1752  of 
contested  elections.  We  are  told  that  on  the  day  of  election 
in  a  certain  county  the  wife  of  a  candidate  sent  to  the  court- 
house a  hogshead  of  punch,  which  was  placed  within  one  hun- 
dred yards  of  the  courthouse  door.  This  hogshead  was  put 
in  charge  of  a  negro  slave,  who  invited  all  persons  passing 
that  way  to  partake  freely  of  this  punch.  The  said  candidate 
was  duly  elected,  and  upon  being  questioned  concerning  this 


282  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA. 

matter,  deposed  that  his  wife  had  done  this  without  his  sanc- 
tion and  approval,  and  that  the  negro  had  invited  persons  to 
drink  before  the  election  without  the  wife's  sanction  and  ap- 
proval, it  having  been  her  purpose  to  invite  all,  whether  his 
friends  or  opponents,  to  freely  partake  after  the  polls  had 
been  closed.  The  Committee  on  Elections  of  the  House  of 
Burgesses  reported  that  the  Burgess  was  excused,  and  he  was 
not  expelled  from  the  House.  In  the  same  year,  however,  two 
worthy  representatives,  John  Chiswell  and  John  Syme,  elected 
from  the  county  of  Hanover,  were  expelled  from  the  House 
because  they  had  treated  voters  throughout  the  county  in  their 
effort  to  secure  their  election.  Again,  in  1775,  we  find  the 
charge  of  procuring  votes  by  treating  brought  against  Henry 
Lee,  of  Prince  William.  He  acknowledged  the  same  and  was 
expelled.  The  charge  was  brought  against  a  delegate  from 
Elizabeth  City  county,  but  he  was  excused.  In  1756  George 
Washington  was  elected  a  member  of  the  House  of  Burgesses 
from  the  county  of  Frederick.  The  previous  year  he  had 
stood  for  election  and  had  been  defeated  through  the  influence 
o'  a  tavern  keeper.  At  the  time  of  the  second  election  he  was 
not  present  in  the  county,  but  Colonel  James  Wood,  then 
clerk,  acted  as  his  representative  and  agent.  After  the  elec- 
tion he  presented  to  Mr.  Washington  a  bill  for  £39,  6s.,  ex- 
penses for  the  election.  Some  of  the  items  were  a  hogshead 
and  a  barrel  of  punch,  thirty-five  gallons  of  strong  cider,  and 
dinner  for  those  who  voted  for  Washington.  About  this  same 
time  a  very  strenuous  law  was  passed  against  treating  at  elec- 
tions. Doubtless  Mr.  Washington  felt  that  he  had  been  guilty 
of  a  very  serious  offense ;  anyhow,  we  never  again  hear  of  any 
such  accusation  against  V/ashington  himself. 

There  were  many  other  contested  cases  in  which  the  charge 
of  treating  was  the  main  point  involved.  The  contested  elec- 
tion of  Danridge  vs.   Littlepage,   in   1764,  in  which   Patrick 


POLITICS   IN   COLONIAL  VIRGINIA.  283 

Henry  was  counsel  for  the  plaintiff,  was  a  similar  case.  An 
interesting  case  also  was  the  case  of  Nash  vs.  Marable,  in 
which  it  was  shown  that  Marable  had  paid  men  to  conduct 
all  men  who  voted  for  him  tio  a  bar,  where  all  the  voter^s  were 
treated  at  Marable's  expense.  He  was  expelled  from  the 
House  and  Naeh  was  seated  in  his  stead.  To  treat  became  so 
common  that  the  very  best  men  in  the  colony  had  to  indulge 
in  it  in  order  to  be  elected.  We  are  told  that  James  Madison 
failed  to  be  elected  in  the  House  of  Delegates  in  1777  because 
he  refused  to  treat.  There  was  a  strong  opposition  to  this 
method  of  procedure,  and  many  pi  the  best  people  in  the  State, 
about  the  time  of  the  Revolution,  tried  earnestly  to  break  it 
up.  An  interesting  petition,  begging  the  Legislature  to  pass 
a  severe  law  which  would  forbid  treating,  is  preserved  by 
Bishop  Meade  in  his  "Old  Churches  and  Families  of  Virginia," 
The  petition  was  signed  by  Edward  Pendleton  and  many 
others.  The  newspapers  also  begged  the  citizens  to  vote  for 
the  best  men,  and  not  to  be  influenced  in  any  way  by  the  hos- 
pitality which  might  be  extended  by  some  of  the  candidates. 
Nevertheles,s  we  know  that  for  a  long  time  the  custom  con- 
tinued to  exist  in  Virginia — practically  as  long  as  the  court- 
houses were  the  centres  at  which  the  elections  were  held — 
the  successful  candidates,  after  the  election  was  over,  re- 
maining at  the  courthouses  for  several  days,  treating  their 
friends  promiscuously. 

We  are,  therefore,  justified  in  concluding  that  so  far  as 
elections  were  concerned  in  Virginia,  whether  the  electors  were 
freeholders,  housekeepers,  or  ordinary  freemen,  the  question 
has  always  been  raised  as  to  whether  the  elections  were  fairly 
conducted  and  were  free  from  corruption.  We  are  probably 
safe  in  assuming  that  colonial  politics  were  somewhat  tainted, 
and  that  family  influence  and  bribery  were  not  altogether 
absent.     Even  with  restricted  suffrage  and  with  the  elections 


284  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA. 

held  under  the  viva  voce  system  and  at  infrequent  intervals, 
there  were  frequent  disturbances  at  the  polls,  resulting  in  fisti- 
cuffs or  a  duel,  followed  by  much  drinking  and  treating  after 
the  election,  not  to  mention  what  was  done  immediately  be- 
fore the  election  by  the  friends  and  agents  of  the  candidates. 
Inside  the  legislative  body  there  were  always  rings,  chiefly 
considering  the  personal  interest  of  some  individual  as  opposed 
to  the  interest  of  the  entire  colony.  The  one  redeeming  fea- 
ture was  that  when  the  politicians  came  to  deal  with  the  broad 
questions  which  affected  the  relation  of  the  colony  to  the 
mother  country  or  the  governmental  powers  exercised  by 
the  Governor  as  a  royal  repre(sentative,  a  majority  of  the  Bur- 
gesses took  a  high  position  for  liberty,  an  attitude  which  re- 
sulted in  the  rejecting  by  Virginia  and  the  people  of  America 
of  kingly  government,  of  privileged  orders  or  institutions 
savoring  of  nobility,  of  the  primogeniture  and  entailed  systems, 
and  of  an  established  church.  Thus  out  of  the  chaotic  condi- 
tions and  conflicting  factions  has  been  realized  a  republican 
form  of  government. 


CHAPTER  XX. 
THE  COLONIAL  GENTLEMAN. 

The  question  as  to  how  far  the  society  of  the  Virginia 
Colony  was  affected  by  the  presence  of  so  large  a  poor  and 
serving  class  has  been  passed  upon  in  previous  chapters, 
the  Cionclusion  being  that  to  no  appreciable  extent  was  any 
impression  made  by  this  class  of  people.  Many  of  these,  to 
be  sure,  came  to  places  of  usefulness  and  respectability,  but 
only  a  few  of  them  achieved  any  social  or  political  distinction. 

The  Virginia  colonial  gentleman  was  very  much  the  same 
sort  of  a  man  as  he  was  on  the  Hudson  or  in  New  England. 
Mr.  Thacker,  in  his  "Recollections  of  Old  Plantation  Life," 
describing  the  visitors  to  his  father's  home,  says : 

"Among  them  were  jolly  old  Virginia  gentlemen,  eccentric 
old  Virginia  gentlemen,  prosy  old  Virginia  gentlemen,  courtly 
old  Virginia  gentlemen,  plain-mannered  old  Virginia  gentle- 
men, charming  old  Virginia  gentlemen  and  uninteresting  old 
Virginia  gentlemen,  many  of  them  graduates  of  William  and 
Mary  College." 

It  is  to  be  pbserved  that,  however  differently  endowed 
these  visitors  were,  all  of  them  seemed  entitled  to  the  name 
of  gentlemen.  Doubtless  these  were  in  line  of  true  succession 
to  the  first  gentlemen  of  the  colony. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  but  that  there  was  such  a  class 
of  men  in  the  colony  who  were  entitled  tp  the  name  of  gen- 
tlemen as  a  social  distinction.  This  does  not  mean  necessarily 
that  they  were  of  noble  lineage  or  that  they  always  carried 

285 


286  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA. 

themselves  in  appreciation  of  the  fact  that  they  were  gentle- 
men, but  it  does  mean  that  there  was  in  the  heterog-eneons 
sc-ciety  of  the  colony  men  pi  such  ancestry,  influence  and 
culture  as  separated  them  from  other  classes,  and  to  whom 
was  accorded  the  name  of  gentlemen.  Why  there  should  be 
any  disposition  to  offer  any  contention  abiout  this  fact  seems 
hard  to  understand.  There  does  not  seem  to  be  any  desire 
on  the  part  of  any  one  to  claim  any  more  for  the  Virginia 
gentleman  than  for  other  gentlemen  of  other  colonies  or  of 
Other  days.  There  is,  however,  to  be  discovered  in  certain 
literature  an  insistence  more  or  less  pronounced  that  the  Vir- 
ginia gentleman  is  not  entitled  to  all  that  has  been  claimed 
for  him.  The  truth  is  that  in  some  quarters  the  Virginia  gen- 
tleman seems  to  be  hard  to  account  for.  Just  how,  under 
colonial  conditions,  there  could  have  existed  such  a  person- 
age, creates  a  demand  on  the  part  pi  some  for  philosophic 
explanation.  The  fact  remains,  however,  that  there  was  in- 
deed such  a  personage  as  the  Virginia  gentleman,  a  historical 
entity  in  the  annals  of  colonial  Virginia. 

One  of  the  things  that  seems  difficult  to  account  for  in 
the  Virginia  gentleman  is  that  in  many  instances  he  was 
really  a  cultivated  man,  and  of  him  is  frequently  asked  the 
astonishing  question,  "Whence  knoweth  this  man  letters?" 
Mr.  Gordon  McCabe  evidently  had  this  in  mind  when  he 
wrote : 

"The  product  was  here,  for  the  number  of  educated  Vir- 
ginians was  large  as  compared  with  isuch  persons  in  other 
colonies,  but  the  machinery  appeared  to  be  wanting.  And 
in  a  country  peopled  with  men  of  high  culture  (for  that  time), 
where  there  was  great  political  knowledge  and  experience, 
the  educational  function  can  hardly  be  traced.  The  fact  re- 
mains, however,  that  the  list  of  the  Revolutionary  leaders  in 
Congress  and  State  politics,  from  1765  to  1799,  would  be  very 


THE   COLONIAL  GENTLEMAN.  287 

much  less  in  number  and  membership  were  the  Virginians  to 
be  stricken  from  it." 

Allusion  has  been  made  from  time  to  time  in  the  course 
of  these  chapters  to  the  number  of  colonists  taking^  part  in 
the  affairs  of  the  colony  in  one  way  or  another,  who  were 
graduates  of  Oxfprd  and  Cambridge  in  the  old  country,  and 
also  to  the  large  number  who  received  academic  training  at 
the  William  and  Mary  College  at  Williamsburg,  and  others 
still  who  had  been  sent  back  to  the  mother  country  to  re- 
ceive academic  instruction  and  training  at  Oxford  and  Cam- 
bridge. Bishop  Meade  calls  attention  to  the  fact  that  in  these 
times  no  man  could  receive  ordination  in  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land, generally  speaking,  without  having  a  degree  from  Cam- 
bridge, Oxford,  Dublin  or  EdinburgTi,  and  also  that  there  were 
lawyers  in  the  colony  who  had  studied  at  the  Temple  Bar,  in 
London,  and  physicians  practicing  medicine  who  bore  diplo- 
mas from  Edinburgh. 

There  was  scarcely  a  home  of  any  pretensions  among  the 
planters  but  that  books  of  a  fine  and  solid  sort  could  be  found. 
In  the  earlier  part  of  the  eighteenth  century  libraries,  "com- 
prehensive in  subject  and  extensive  for  that  period,"  became 
quite  numerous.  Colonel  William  Byrd's  library  at  West- 
over  numbered  nearly  four  thousand  volumes,  Mr.  Ralph 
Wormely,  at  Rosegille,  had  a  library  of  four  hundred  titles, 
and  Mr.  Richard  Lee's  library  numbered  three  hundred  titles. 
Large  libraries  were  owned  by  Randolph,  George  Mason  and 
John  Herbert,  and  a  Mr.  Mercer's  library  numbered  fifteen 
hundred  volumes.  And  so  throughout  the  colony  books  were 
to  be  found  of  solid  worth  and  comprehensive  in  scope.  A 
writer  in  the  "Virginia  Magazine  of  History"  may  be  quoted 
as  saying: 

"The  study  of  our  old  county  records  has  thrown  light 
on  many  subjects  connected  with  our  history,  but  in  no  in- 


288  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA. 

stance  has  a  greater  revision  of  former  opinion  been  caused 
than  in  regard  to  books  and  reading.  Northern  and  English 
writers  were  used  tp  saying  that  the  Virginians  were  brave 
and  hospitable,  but  given  up  to  the  pleasures  of  the  field  and 
card  table  and  race  track,  and  almost  entirely  without  ac- 
quaintance with  books." 

A  study  of  the  county  records  shows  a  vast  number  of 
books  appraised  by  executors  or  mentioned  in  wills,  all  of 
which  indicating  that  the  Virginia  gentleman  was  a  much 
more  widely  read  man  than  he  has  been  commonly  supposed 
to  have  been.  There  can  be  no  doubt  but  that  if  the  Virginia 
gentleman  had  turned  his  attention  to  literature  instead  of 
pclitics,  there  would  have  been  as  many  progenitors  of  Amer- 
ican literature  in  Virginia  as  there  were  in  the  New  England 
colonies.  There  is  small  doubt  but  that  there  were  quite  as 
many  in  the  Virginia  Colony  endowed  by  nature  and  equipped 
by  training  for  a  work  of  this  sort  as  could  have  been  found 
elsewhere  at  that  time  and  under  similar  conditions.  But 
their  energies  were  turned  in  other  directions,  and  the  con- 
tribution of  the  Virginia  gentleman  was  in  the  political  con- 
struction of  a  new  government.  Even  as  it  was,  there  are  a 
few  instances  where  really  valuable  contributions  were  made 
to  American  literature  and  under  circumstances  that  were  not 
piopitious  for  such  work. 

An  author  signing  himself  "T.  M.,"  whose  identity  has 
never  been  thoroughly  well  established,  though  he  is  supposed 
to  have  been  Thomas  Matthews,  a  son  of  the  Governor  of 
that  name,  wrote  "The  Beginning,  Progress  and  Conclusion 
of  Bacon's  Rebellion"  in  the  years  1775  and  1776.  Then,  in 
1676,  a  hundred  years  before  the  Revolution,  there  is  a  very 
admirable  production  by  Mrs.  Anne  Cotton,  of  Q  Creek.  Mr. 
Esten  Cooke  speaks  of  her  as  a  "shadow."  Her  work  was  en- 
titled "An  Account  of  Our  Late  Troubles  in  Virginia."     "A 


X  ^ 


O    3= 


THE  COLONIAL  GENTLEMAN.  289 

Narrative  of  the  Indian  and  Civil  Wars  in  Virginia  in  the 
Years  1675-1676,"  is  by  an  author  absokitely  unknown.  Two 
valuable  histories  of  Virginia  were  produced  in  the  first  half 
of  the  eighteenth  century  by  Robert  Beverley,  published  in 
1705,  and  one  by  William  Stith,  published  in  1747.  Mr.  Bev- 
erley's history  is  valuable  mainly  for  the  fact  of  its  thorough 
treatment  of  the  political  and  economic  conditions  of  society 
in  Virginia.  He  was  a  most  patriotic  Virginian,  but  he  dealt 
w^ith  characters  and  conditions  under  his  treatment  with  per- 
fect candor  and  frankness. 

Mr.  Stith  was  a  professor  at  William  and  Mary  College. 
His  work  is  considered  a  most  valuable  contribution  to  the 
history  of  colonial  days.  His  sincere  desire  for  accuracy  won 
for  him  the  name  of  "The  Accurate  Stith."  He  had  planned  to 
write  a  complete  history  of  Virginia,  but  for  some  reason  he 
never  succeeded  in  carrying  out  his  purpose.  Perhaps  the 
most  brilliant  contribution  to  the  literature  of  the  day  was 
by  Hon.  William  Byrd,  of  Westover,  a  Virginia  gentleman  of 
exceeding  fine  culture  and  of  charming  and  winsome  social 
gifts.  He  is  described  as  "one  of  the  brightest  stars  in  the 
social  skies  in  Virginia,"  and  as  having  had  "personal  beauty, 
elegant  manners,  literary  culture  and  the  greatest  gayety  of 
disposition."  His  style  is  exuberant,  piquant  and  unconscious, 
thoughtless  and  careless  of  what  critics  might  say,  or  as  to 
how  his  productions  might  be  received.  His  writings  have 
been  preserved  under  the  title  of  "The  Westover  Manuscripts." 
The  longest  of  his  productions  is  "The  History  of  the  Divid- 
ing Line."  It  is  the  ,story  of  his  journey  and  labor  in  con- 
nection with  the  fixing  of  the  boundaries  between  Virginia 
and  North  Carolina.  This  writing  bristles  with  wit  and  hu- 
mor, and  is  a  thoroughly  vigorous  and  wholesome  book.  In 
much  the  same  vein  he  wrote  afterwards  "The  Journey  to 
the  Land  of  Eden,"  and  still  later  "Progress  to  the  Mines." 


290  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA. 

If  space  permitted,  mention  might  be  made  of  earlier 
writings  on  the  part  of  the  Englishmen  associated  with  the 
establishment  of  the  first  English  colony  in  America,  and  of 
other  writings  at  later  dates  by  Virginians.  In  these  sporadic 
contributions  there  can  at  least  be  discovered  suggestions  of 
what  the  Virginia  gentleman  might  have  done  in  literature 
had  he  been  so  minded. 

Perhaps  the  most  distinguishing  attribute  of  the  colonial 
gentleman  was  his  cheerful  and  assiduous  hospitality.  It  may 
be  the  conditions  surrounding  him  are  to  be  credited  with  the 
necessity  that  called  for  the  cultivation  of  the  grace  of  hos- 
pitality. The  lapses  in  the  neighborhoods  of  the  settlement 
were  very  great,  and  ordinarily  homes  were  widely  removed 
from  one  another.  Mails  were  irregular  and  infrequent.  Fa- 
cilities for  travel  and  intercommunication  were  very  meagre, 
so  that  any  contact  with  the  outer  world  became  an  interest- 
ing episode  in  the  lives  of  the  people.  These  conditions  made 
hospitality  not  only  necessary,  but  transformed  it  into  an  ex- 
ceeding great  privilege.  It  was  pleasant  to  have  around  the 
table  and  the  evening  hearthstone  any  one  who  brought  tidings 
of  the  outer  world.  Mr.  Beverley  says:  "The  inhabitants  were 
very  Ciourteous  to  travelers,  who  needed  no  other  recommenda- 
tion than  the  fact  of  being  a  human  creature.  A  stranger  has 
but  to  inquire  upon  the  road  where  any  gentleman  or  good 
housekeeper  lives,  and  there  he  may  depend  upon  being  re- 
ceived with  hospitality.  This  good  nature  is  so  general  among 
the  people  that  the  gentry,  when  they  go  abroad,  order  their 
principal  servants  to  entertain  all  visitors  with  everything  the 
plantation  affords.  And  the  poor  planter  who  has  but  one 
bed  will  often  sit  up  all  night  or  lie  upon  the  floor  or  couch 
to  make  room  for  a  weary  traveler  after  his  journey." 

There  are  numerous  and  most  entertaining  accounts  of 
where  whole  families  would  enjoy  for  weeks,  and  even  months, 


THE  COLONIAL  GENTLEMAN.  291 

at  a  time  the  hospitality  o£  another  household.  It  is  related 
how,  in  their  eagerness  for  entertainment,  the  heads  of  estab- 
lishments would  place  at  convenient  points  upon  the  country 
road  dusky  messengers  who  were  to  press  entertainment  and 
hospitality  upon  any  one  who  chanced  to  pass  that  way.  This 
hospitality  was  as  affluent  as  it  was  cordial.  The  Virginian 
had  gotten  far  away  from  the  hardships  of  the  earlier  years 
of  the  colonial  life,  and  by  the  beginning  of  the  eighteenth 
century  the  saying  of  Mr.  Berkeley  was  very  likely  altogether 
true  that  "the  Colony  of  Virginia  was  the  most  flourishing 
country  the  sun  ever  shone  over." 

A  wonderful  change  had  taken  place  since  the  first  days 
of  the  great  plantations.  Luxury  and  plenty  had  taken  the 
place  of  discomfort  and  want.  There  was  produced  on  the 
plantation  well-nigih  everything  that  ministered  to  bodily; 
comfort  and  ease.  Food  there  was  in  rich  and  varied  pro- 
fusion ;  luxuries,  such  as  books,  wines,  silks  and  laces  were 
exchanged  at  the  planter's  wharf  for  his  tobacco,  so  that  the 
cost  of  hospitality  was  never  taken  into  account,  and  the  ob- 
ligations, if  there  were  any,  seemed  to  be  on  the  part  of  the 
host  rather  than  the  guest.  Even  under  the  changed  condi- 
tions that  have  come  about  since  the  great  Civil  War,  it  is 
hard  for  the  impoverished  Virginian  to  forget  the  kindly  trick 
of  hospitality.  Even  to-day  a  stranger  may  knock  at  nightfall 
at  well-nigh  any  rural  home,  and  if  any  reasonable  account 
can  be  given  of  himself  he  is  sure  to  be  received  and  the  cor- 
dial, if  not  the  affluent,  hospitality  of  the  elder  day  bestowed 
upon  him. 

The  colonial  gentleman  was  a  man  of  exuberant  spirits, 
and  great  attention  was  given  to  the  finding  of  avenues  for 
its  expression  and  expenditure.  After  the  long  j^ears  of  hard- 
ships and  sufferings  there  followed  an  era  of  unusual  and  ex- 
traordinary freeness  and  gaiety.     The  opening  years  of  the 


292  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA. 

eighteenth  century  have  truly  been  designated  as  the  golden 
age  of  Virginia.  They  are  alluded  to  more  than  any  other 
days  as  "the  good  old  times."  The  arrangement  of  the  so- 
ciety and  the  conditions  of  industrial  and  commercial  life  were 
such  as  to  afford  large  time  and  opportunity  for  the  pursuit 
of  pleasure.  During  the  winter  months  a  large  number  of 
planters  went  to  Williamsburg  and  indulged  in  an  incessant 
round  of  gaieties  of  one  sort  and  another.  There  was  the 
social  life  and  the  fine  social  functions  incident  to  the  annual 
meeting  of  the  Grand  Assembly.  There  the  theatre  was 
brought  and  companies  from  London  presented  to  the  colonial 
gentleman  Shakespeare  and  Congreve  for  his  instruction  and 
entertainment.  There  were  the  colonial  balls,  given  at  fre- 
quent intervals,  in  the  famous  Apollo  apartment  in  the  Raleigh 
Tavern.  A  glimpse  of  this  joyous  and  happy  and  careless  life 
is  to  be  seen  in  the  early  letters  of  Jefferson,  where  he  tells 
of  the  escapades  of  the  college  boys  and  of  the  throbbing 
streets,  and  the  balls  at  the  Raleigh  Tavern,  in  which  he  and 
his  dear  Belinda  danced  the  happy  hours  away. 

Not  all  of  the  amusements  indulged  in  by  the  colonial  gen- 
tleman were  free  from  the  criticisms  of  coarseness  and  cruelty. 
There  was  a  favorite  entertainment  furnished  by  a  cruel  game 
that  was  called  gouging.  Two  combatants  engaged  one  an- 
other in  muscular  contest,  the  main  purpose  of  which  was  to 
gouge  an  e3^e  out,  and  when  once  the  strong  fingers  of  a  com- 
batant's hand  found  the  eyeball  of  the  other,  unless  he  cried 
"enough"  and  gave  up  the  fight,  he  was  apt  to  lose  his  eye  as 
the  reward  of  his  foolish  courage.  It  is  said  that  certain  men 
had  their  fingers  and  nails  manicured  in  such  a  way  as  to  in- 
crease their  effectiveness  in  a  conflict  of  this  isort,  the  nails 
being  carefully  sharpened  and  toughened  by  some  mysterious 
process  known  to  the  expert  gougers  of  the  day. 

Cards  and  dice  were  also  popular  amusements,  indulgence 


THE  COLONIAL  GENTLEMAN  293 

in  which  sometimes  amounted  to  a  widespread  craze.  More 
than  once  the  Grand  Assembly  felt  that  the  widespread  cus- 
tom demanded  official  recognition  and  regulation.  Debts  for 
gambling  could  not  be  collected  by  any  process  of  law,  and 
keepers  pf  taverns  and  public  houses  were  forbidden,  under 
isevere  penalty,  to  allow  gambling  in  public  places. 

Horse-racing  was  considered  the  especial  sport  of  the 
colonial  gentleman.  The  development  of  the  race-horse  was 
very  rapid.  It  was  a  long  time  before  the  colonial  gentleman 
ever  thought  of  the  horse  as  being  for  drudgery,  but  consid- 
ered him  as  an  animal  to  afford  them  pleasure  rather  than 
profit,  so  that  great  pride  was  taken  especiall}^  in  the  saddle- 
horse.  Horseback  riding  was  a  universal  accomplishment, 
both  for  the  colonial  gentleman  and  the  colonial  dame.  One 
of  the  first  signs  of  increased  prosperity  then,  even  as  it  is 
now,  was  the  purchase  of  a  horse  by  the  colonial  swain.  It 
was  natural  that,  with  such  a  general  pride  in  the  horse, 
trials  of  excellence  in  speed  and  durability  should  follow.  So 
it  came  about  that  horse-racing  was  the  universal  sport  among 
the  gentlemen  of  the  day.  There  were  certain  aristocratic  pre- 
tensions about  the  sport  that  received  legislative  recognition, 
and  there  were  enactments  governing  the  sport,  excluding 
from  it  those  who  were  not  entitled  to  the  name  of  gentlemen. 
There  is  a  record  in  the  court  of  York  county  where  it  is  said 
that  "James  Bullock,  a  tailor,  having  made  a  race  for  his  mare 
to  run  with  a  horse  belonging  to  Matthew  Slater,  for  two 
thousand  pounds  of  tobacco  and  caske,  it  being  contrary  to 
law  for  a  laborer  to  make  a  race,  being  a  sport  only  for  gen- 
tlemen, is  fined  for  the  same  one  hundred  pounds  of  tobacco 
and  caske,"  and  the  record  proceeds  to  further  state  that 
"whereas  Mr.  Matthew  Slater  and  James  Bullock,  by  condi- 
tions under  the  hand  and  seal  of  the  said  Slater,  that  his  horse 
should  run  out  of  the  way  so  that  Bullock's  mare  might  win, 


294  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA. 

which  is  an  apparent  cheat,  is  ordered  to  be  put  in  the  stocks 
and  there  sit  for  one  hour." 

In  1730  it  was  very  common  for  horses  to  be  kept  only  for 
racing,  and  at  many  convenient  places  "race  paths"  were  es- 
tablished. At  Williamsburg  there  were  elaborate  arrange- 
ments made  for  the  conduct  of  races  twice  a  year,  in  the  au- 
tumn and  in  the  spring.  Provisions  were  made  for  starters, 
judges  and  the  usual  regulations  as  to  weights,  handicaps  of 
one  sort  and  another.  The  course  at  Williamsburg  was  for 
the  mile,  two-mile,  three-mile  and  even  four-mile  heats,  it  be- 
ing plainly  evident  that  the  Virginian  was  seeking  not  simply 
the  quality  of  speed,  but  the  combined  qualities  of  speed  and 
durability  in  their  racing  .stock. 

Cockfighting  was  a  general  and  gruesome  pastime  among 
the  Virginia  gentlemen,  and  great  attention  was  given  to  the 
rearing  of  good  fighting  stock  and  great  care  given  in  its  train- 
ing. The  sport  seems  to  have  been  a  very  general  one.  The 
authorities  at  William  and  Mary  College  were  obliged  to  leg- 
islate strenuously  against  the  sport  as  practiced  among  the 
students.  Mr.  Cooke  rescues  from  obscurity,  and  puts  in 
the  niche  of  fame,  a  breed  of  fighting  cocks  of  the  Spangles 
variety,  which  had  been  victors  on  many  battlefields,  and 
v/hich  were  called  "Bacon's  Thunderbolts."  We  are  disposed 
to  hand  this  breed  of  bellicose  roosters  down  to  increased  fame 
by  making  record  of  their  name  in  this  place. 

As  an  indication  of  the  spirit  of  the  day  in  matters  of  sport 
and  recreation,  we  give  the  following  quotation  from  the  "Ga- 
zette" of  October,  1737,  which  announced  that  "there  are  to 
be  horse-racing  and  several  other  diversions  for  the  entertain- 
ment of  the  gentlemen  and  ladies  at  the  Old  Field.  Besides 
the  races  there  is  to  be  given  a  hat  to  the  value  of  two  shil- 
lings to  be  cudgelled  for,  and  that  after  the  first  challenge  is 
made,  the  drum  is  to  beat  every  quarter  hour  for  a  challenge 


THE  COLONIAL  GENTLEMAN.  295 

around  the  ring  and  not  to  be  played  with  the  left  hands.  A 
reward  is  offered  for  successful  competitors  in  a  musical  com- 
petition in  which  twenty  fiddles  are  to  be  used,  and  each  fid- 
dler is  to  play  a  different  tune.  Twelve  boys  are  to  run  one 
hundred  and  twelve  yards  for  a  hat  worth  twelve  shillings. 
A  choir  of  ballads  is  to  be  sung  for;  a  pair  of  silver  buckles 
are  to  be  wrestled  for;  the  prettiest  girl  on  the  ground  is  to 
have  a  pair  of  handsome  silk  stockings,  of  one  pistole's  value.'' 
And  it  is  added  that  "as  this  mirth  is  designed  to  be  purely 
innocent  and  void  of  offense,  all  persons  resorting  there  are 
desired  to  behave  themselves  with  becoming  sobriety." 

The  colonial  Virginia  gentleman  may  be  commended  for 
his  gallantry.  His  treatment  of  woman  was  always  with  the 
highest  consideration  and  the  utmost  courtesy.  It  is  refresh- 
ing to  read  in  these  unceremonious  days  of  the  deferential 
treatment  that  characterized  the  mutual  courses  of  the  colon- 
ial gentleman  and  dame.  While  domestic  felicity  was  unre- 
strained, the  entire  household  was  conducted  upon  a  high 
plane  of  pronounced  mutual  regard  and  respect.  Many  of 
these  deferential  offices  may  seem,  in  this  late  day,  unneces- 
sary and  artificial,  and  yet  it  is  not  hard  to  see  how  present 
domestic  conditions  might  be  greatly  improved  if  there  were 
practiced  a  little  more  of  the  ceremony  indulged  in  by  these 
builders  of  first  American  homes. 

It  is  said  that  the  Virginia  gentleman  was  sometimes  rather 
violent  and  insistent  in  his  courtships.  The  story  of  Governor 
Nicholson's  attempt  at  the  hand  of  Mr.  Louis  Burwell's  daugh- 
ter is  a  case  in  point.  She  refused  to  capitulate  to  this  gen- 
tleman's violent  assault  upon  the  citadel  of  her  heart,  and 
stubbornly  refused  his  insistent  overtures.  He  became  furi- 
fously  mad,  and  stormed  and  threatened  in  a  most  violent  fash- 
ion, confiding  even  to  Commissioner  Blair  his  purpose  to  cut 
at  least  three  throats  if  Miss  Burwell  ever  consented  to  marry 


296  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA. 

any  one  other  than  himself.  He  supposed  that  this  sanguinary 
outbreak  on  his  part  would  result  in  the  cutting-  of  the  throats 
oi  the  bridegroom,  the  minister  and  the  judge  who  issued  the 
license.  Nobody  seemed  especially  afraid  at  this  violent  out- 
break of  the  impetuous  Governor,  for  it  is  a  matter  of  record 
that  Miss  Burwell  really  did  marry  afterward  other  than  His 
Excellency,  and  was  forever  afterwards  happy. 

The  colonial  gentleman  seemed  to  have  a  penchant  for 
widows.  Some  one,  herself  a  woman,  has  called  this  "the 
period  of  belleship  of  widows."  Washington,  Jefferson  and 
Madison  all  married  widows.  Even  the  stern  Sir  William 
Berkeley  was  taken  captive  by  a  young  widow  of  Warwick 
county,  known  as  Dame  Francis  Stevens.  After  Berkeley's 
death,  being  a  widow  again,  with  her  usual  prerogative,  she 
entered  into  the  state  of  matrimony  with  her  late  husband's 
secretary,  Mr.  Philip  Ludwell,  clinging,  however,  fast  and 
fondly  to  the  title  of  Lady  Berkeley. 

The  marriageable  age  set  for  females  in  these  colonial  days 
was  at  a  much  more  youthful  period  than  is  now  thought  wise 
and  well.  At  ridiculously  immature  ages  many  colonial  vir- 
gins took  upon  themselves  the  grave  responsibilities  of  mar- 
ried life.  A  woman  who  had  reached  the  mature  age  of 
twenty-five  summers  was  looked  upon  askance  and  regarded 
as  being  peculiar,  or  else  she  would  have  married  many  years 
before.  The  great  Chief  Justice  Marshall  met  his  sweetheart 
when  she  was  only  fourteen  years  of  age,  and  restrained  his 
matrimonial  ambitions  and  waited  two  long  years  for  his  bride, 
until  she  had  reached  the  mature  age  of  sixteen  years. 

In  his  religion,  as  in  politics,  the  colonial  gentleman  was 
at  least  loyal  to  its  outward  institutions.  In  the  main  they 
were  adherents  and  strong  advocates  of  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land. Some  one  has  been  put  on  record  as  having  said  to  Mr. 
Madison  that  "a  man  might  be  a  Christian  in  any  church,  but 


THE  COLONIAL  GENTLEMAN.  297 

a  g-entleman  must  belong  tp  the  Church  of  England."  Fre- 
quently, of  course,  these  gentlemen  were  genuinely  religious, 
and  were  most  piously  devoted  to  the  church  and  to  its  creed 
and  benevolences,  but  frequently  their  devotion  in  these  mat- 
ters seems  to  have  been  strangely  inconsistent  with  their  prac- 
tice in  worldly  affairs.  It  was  characteristic  of  the  devotion 
of  the  cavalier  that  while  every  act  of  his  life  might  disallow 
and  gainsay  the  creed  of  his  church,  there  never  was  a  time 
but  that  he  was  willing  to  lay  down  his  life  for  her  good  and 
prosperity.  It  is  .stated  as  a  matter  resisted  by  the  ecclesi- 
astical authorities  that  many  ceremonies  usually  discharged 
in  the  church  were  practiced  in  the  homes  of  the  people.  The 
christening  of  children,  the  marriage  ceremony  and  funeral 
services  came  more  and  more  to  be  matters  that  were  per- 
formed in  the  home  rather  than  at  the  church.  After  the  con- 
ditions of  plantation  life  had  obtained,  the  burial  places  of 
the  dead  were  also  removed  from  the  church  burial  yards. 
Each  family  had  usually  its  own  burying  ground  contiguous 
to  the  homestead.  Mr.  Hugh  Jones  wrote:  "It  is  customary 
to  bury  in  gardens  or  orchards,  where  whole  families  lie  in- 
terred together  in  a  spot  generally  handsomely  enclosed, 
planted  with  evergreens  and  the  graves  kept  decently.  Hence 
likewise  arose  the  occasion  for  preaching  funeral  sermons  in 
houses,  where,  at  funerals,  are  assembled  a  great  congregation 
of  neighbors  and  friends.  If  you  insist  on  having  the  ser- 
vices and  ceremonies  at  the  church,  they  say  that  thev  will  be 
without  them  unless  performed  after  this  manner." 

From  the  above  description  of  the  character  and  method  of 
life  of  the  colonial  gentleman  may  be  gotten  a  fairly  good  idea 
of  him.  Proud  and  somewhat  pretentious,  ceremonial  in  man- 
ner and  speech,  not  without  culture  nor  without  sympathy  for 
lofty  ideals,  kindly  and  democratic  in  his  contact  and  dealing 
with  his  neighbors,  however  poor,  hospitable  to  a  miost  gen- 


298  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA. 

erpus  degree,  fond  of  his  family  and  gallant  in  his  bearing 
toward  the  fair  sex,  interested  in  all  public  questions  and 
participating  in  all  affairs  of  State,  fond  of  the  field  and  its 
sports,  in  the  earlier  years  of  the  colony  loyal  to  his  King, 
and  a  devout  and  devoted  defender  of  his  church  and  her  creed. 
Perhaps  no  saner  view  was  ever  taken  of  him  than  is  con- 
veyed in  these  words  of  Mr.  Fiske : 

"On  the  whole  it  was  a  noble  type  of  the  rural  gentry  that 
the  Old  Dominion  had  to  show.  Manly  simplicity,  love  pi 
home  and  family,  breezy  activity,  disinterested  public  spirit, 
thorough  wholesomeness  and  integrity ;  such  were  the  fea- 
tures of  the  society  whose  consummate  flower  was  George 
Washington." 


CHAPTER  XXI. 
THE  WESTWARD  MOVEMENT.— 1716-1774. 

At  the  time  of  Bacon's  Rebellion  all  of  the  settlements  in 
Virg-inia  were  confined  to  the  east  of  the  line  drawn  from  the 
present  site  of  Alexandria,  through  Fredericksburg,  Richmond 
and  Petersburg,  to  the  North  Carolina  line.  In  the  year  1685 
there  were  twenty  counties  in  Virginia,  with  a  population  of 
about  sixty  thousand,  six  thousand  of  which  were  negro  slaves, 
and  about  an  equal  number  were  indentured  servants.  Fol- 
lowing the  removal  of  Mr.  Berkeley,  in  1677,  for  fifty  years 
Virginia  had  a  succession  of  exceedingly  fine  Governors,  and 
affairs  moved  along  prosperously  and  smoothly  except  for  the 
depression  brought  about  by  the  effect  of  the  navigation  laws 
on  the  tobacco  industry.  So  serious  was  the  disaffection 
caused  by  this  widespread  depression  that  there  were  several 
tobacco  insurrections  which  resulted  in  the  crops  of  tobacco 
being  cut  in  the  fields,  and  in  other  disturbances  in  the  colonies. 
The  tpbacco  insurrection  in  the  days  of  Governor  Culpeper  is 
especially  to  be  noted.  Two  planters  who  took  part  in  this 
insurrection  were  hanged. 

As  stated  in  a  previous  chapter,  the  land  grant  question 
was  an  important  one  in  the  politics  of  the  day,  and  is  men- 
tioned here  as  a  matter  that  seriously  interfered  with  emigra- 
tion. At  first  the  land  grants  were  made  in  the  name  of  the 
London  Company,  but  after  1623  they  were  made  in  the  name 
of  the  Governor  and  Council.  Each  shareholder  in  the  London 
Company  was  entitled,  for  each  share  subscribed  to  in   the 

299 


366  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA. 

company,  to  one  hundred  acres  in  the  first  distribution  to  be 
made  along^  the  James  River,  and  was  also  entitled  to  have, 
for  each  share  he  owned,  one  hundred  acres  in  a  second  dis- 
tribution which  might  be  made,  after  he  had  seeded  a  planta- 
tion. 

In  1610  all  quit  rents  against  original  shareholders  were 
abolished.  It  was  also  provided  that  after  a  term  of  service 
in  the  colony,  servants  should  receive  one  hundred  acres  of 
land.  Every  person  who  brought  over  settlers  to  Virginia 
would  be  granted  fifty  acres  for  each  settler.  This  latter  pro- 
vision was  not  at  all  satisfactory,  as  often  captains  of  ships 
claimed  and  secured  fifty  acres  of  land  for  each  person  who 
might  sail  in  their  ships,  although  they  had  nothing  at  all  to 
do  with  the  securing  of  such  passengers. 

But  these  provisions  were  all  overlooked  when  Virginia 
came  to  be  a  royal  province,  and  the  King  granted  at  will 
large  tracts  of  land  to  his  favorites,  without  reference  to  any 
provisions  or  settlements  or  even  of  assignments  already  made 
in  these  districts. 

In  1710  there  came  to  Virginia  Alexander  Spotswood,  as 
Lieutenant-Governor  of  the  colony,  the  Earl  of  Orkney  being 
the  Governor  of  the  colony,  a  position  which  he  held  for  forty 
years,  during  which  time  he  never  set  foot  in  the  Virginia 
Colony.  The  absence  of  the  Governor  was  a  source  of  regret 
to  many  of  the  colonists,  though  Spotswood  himself,  on  the 
whole,  was  a  very  satisfactory  Lieutenant-Governor,  which  po- 
sition he  held  for  twelve  years.  He  was  a  trained  soldier, 
having  fought  in  the  battle  of  Blenheim,  under  the  great  Duke 
of  Marlborough,  and  where  he  was  wounded. 

At  the  time  of  Spotswood's  arrival  there  were  about 
twenty-five  counties  in  Virginia,  containing  a  population  of 
seventy-five  thousand  whites  and  twenty-three  thousand  ne- 
groes.   The  colony  could  not  be  said  to  have  been  at  that  time 


THE  WESTWARD  MOVEMENT— i7i6-'74.       301 

ill  a  very  prosperous  condition.  The  price  of  tobacco  was  still 
very  low,  and  the  coasts  were  being  constantly  pillaged  by 
pirates.  These  latter  were  soon  after  subdued  and  driven  from 
the  shores  of  Virg'inia. 

In  1710  the  settlement  still  had  not  passed  the  line  mark- 
ing the  head  of  tidewater,  except  here  and  there  along  the 
streams  that  flowed  into  the  river  with  tides.  Some  few  brave 
pioneers,  however,  had  pushed  into  the  wilderness  and  ex- 
plored as  far  as  the  foot  of  the  Blue  Ridge  Mountains,  where 
could  be  found  the  rude  homes  of  some  frontiersmen,  but  no 
white  man  had  yet  crossed  the  Blue  Ridge  Mountains  and 
looked  into  the  imperial  Valley  of  Virginia. 

About  the  ist  of  August,  1716,  Governor  Spotswood  or- 
ganized a  band  to  explore  the  western  country.  He  drove  in 
his  coach,  accompanied  by  his  staff  on  horseback,  from  Wil- 
liamsburg to  "Germanna,"  his  country  home,  just  above  Fred- 
ericksburg, on  the  outskirts  of  the  settled  portion  of  Virginia. 
Here,  on  account  of  the  fact  that  there  were  no  roads  to  the 
west,  he  was  compelled  to  leave  his  coach,  and  he  and  his 
band  of  some  fifty-odd  set  out  on  horseback  along  the  Rap- 
pahannock River,  and  after  thirty-six  days  from  Williams- 
burg they  scaled  the  mountain  near  Swift  Run  Gap,  and  for 
the  first  time  white  men  looked  down  upon  the  beautiful  val- 
ley of  the  Shenandoah. 

When  Spotswood  arrived  in  the  colony,  in  1710,  he  had 
written  to  the  Council  of  Trades,  in  London,  that  some  ad- 
venturers had  found  that  the  mountains  were  not  more  than 
one  hundred  miles  from  upper  inhabitants,  and  that  they  had 
gone  to  the  top  of  one  of  these  mountains.  At  this  time  the 
valley  was  inhabited  by  the  Shawnee  Indians,  whose  tribes 
stretched  back  into  the  Ohio  Valley.  The  valley  was  fre- 
quented by  buffalo,  bear,  wolf  and  panther. 

After  Spotswood  and  his  party  had  descended  the  moun- 


302  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA. 

tain  and  found  a  fordable  place,  they  crossed  to  tlie  west  of 
the  Shenandoah  River  and  took  possession  of  all  the  land 
in  the  name  of  the  King".  A  most  pleasing  account  of  this 
adventure  is  given  by  Mr.  John  Fontaine  in  his  diary.  He 
said  that  they  crossed  the  Shenandoah  River  on  the  6th  of 
September.  He  declared  that  the  stones  they  met  with  were 
so  hard  that  the  Governor's  engraving  irons  made  no  impres- 
sion upon  them,  but  that  he  engraved  his  name  on  a  tree  by 
the  river,  and  the  Governor  buried  a  bottle  with  a  paper  en- 
closed, on  which  he  wrote  that  he  "took  possession  of  this 
place  in  the  name  of  King  George  I.  of  England."  Fontaine 
tells  of  the  dinner  that  they  took  together  on  the  6th  of  Sep- 
tember in  the  following  words : 

"We  had  a  good  dinner,  and  after  it  we  got  the  men  to- 
gether and  drank  the  King's  health  in  champag^ne,  and  fired 
a  volley ;  the  Prince's  health  in  Burgundy,  and  fired  a  volley ; 
and  all  the  rest  of  the  royal  family  in  claret,  and  fired  a  vol- 
ley. We  drank  the  Governor's  health  and  fired  another  vol- 
ley. We  had  several  sorts  of  liquor,  viz. :  Virginia  red  wines 
and  white  wines,  Irish  Usquebaugh  brandy,  shrub,  two  sorts 
of  rum,  champagne,  canary,  cherry,  punch,  cider,  etc." 

Evidently  this  was  not  a  temperance  campaign  upon  which 
these  gentlemen  had  come.  After  eight  weeks,  which,  we 
imagine,  was  not  any  too  long  a  time  for  them  to  become 
thoroug'hly  sober,  the  Governor  and  his  party  returned. 
Spotswood  then  established  the  Order  of  the  Knights  of  the 
Golden  Horseshoe,  and  to  each  man  he  gave  a  horseshoe  set 
with  diamonds,  and  upon  which  were  engraved  the  words 
"Sic  juvat  transcendere  montes."  Spotswood,  on  writing 
about  this  trip,  said  that  the  object  of  it  was  to  see  that  the 
western  lands,  especially  the  Eng-lish  settlements,  were  pro- 
tected against  the  French  encroachments.  He  said  that  he 
discovered  that  it  was  but  thirty-six  days'  journey  to  a  great 


THE  WESTWARD  MOVEMENT— i7i6-'74.       303 

nation  of  Indians,  living  on  the  river  which  discharged  itself 
into  Lake  Erie,  and  that  that  lake  could  be  seen  from  the 
western  side  of  one  of  the  smaller  mountains  which  he  saw, 
and  the  way  thither  was  very  practicable,  and  he  advised  that 
a  settlement  should  be  made  there  for  the  protection  of  the 
English  settlements.  At  once  all  of  this  great  country  which 
had  been  seen  by  Spotswood  was  organized  into  the  county 
of  Spotsylvania,  named  in  honor  of  the  Governor.  It  extended 
from  the  head  of  tidewater  on  the  Rappahannock  River,  across 
the  mountains  into  Ohio.  Glowing  reports  pi  this  country 
v/ere  circulated,  and  in  a  few  years  settlers  were  trooping 
into  the  valley.  One  Adam  Miller  entered  the  valley  in  the 
year  1729. 

Forty  thousand  acres  of  land,  near  where  Winchester  now 
stands,  were  granted  by  Governor  Gooch,  in  1730,  to  two 
Pennsylvania  brothers — John  and  Isaac  Van  Meter.  Their 
grant  was  bought  by  another  Pennsylvanian,  Joyst  Hite,  who 
removed  his  family  to  Virginia  in  1732,  and  fixed  his  resi- 
dence a  few  miles  south  of  the  present  town  of  Winchester. 

In  1638  there  were  two  houses  where  Winchester  now 
stands,  and  in  1752  there  was  organized  a  town.  Settlers 
poured  in  very  rapidly,  and  Staunton  was  settled  about  1740. 
The  county  of  Orange  was  soon  carved  out  of  the  county  of 
Spotsylvania.  Later  Augusta  and  Frederick  were  formed 
from  Orange. 

A  dispute  arose  between  Hite  and  Lord  Fairfax,  the  latter 
claiming  that  all  the  land  granted  to  Hite  was  included  in  his 
grant  of  the  Northern  Neck.  Fairfax  entered  a  caveat  against 
Hite  in  1736,  which  was  followed  b}'-  a  suit  against  Lord  Fair- 
fax by  Hite,  which  was  not  decided  until  1786,  long  after  the 
death  of  both  Hite  and  Lord  Fairfax  had  occurred.  The  judg- 
ment was  rendered  in  favor  of  Hite  and  his  vendees.  The  dis- 
pute, however,  between   Lord  Fairfax  and   Hite  greatly  re- 


304  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA. 

tarded  the  settlement  of  the  lower  valley,  and  forced  the  set- 
tlers higher  up  the  valley.  The  counties  formed  from  or  in- 
cluded in  the  grant  made  to  Lord  Fairfax  were  Lancaster, 
Northumberland,  Richmond,  Stafford,  King  George,  Prince 
William,  Fairfax,  Loudoun,  Fauquier,  Culpeper,  the  present 
Rappahannock  county,  Madison,  Page,  Shenandoah  and  Fred- 
erick in  Virginia,  and  Hardy,  Hampshire,  Morgan,  Berkeley 
and  Jefferson,  in  West  Virginia. 

The  first  houses  of  the  settlers  were  log  cabins,  covered 
with  split  clapboards  and  with  poles  to  keep  them  in  place. 
The  floors  were  frequently  pnly  of  the  earth.  Later  the  hewn 
log  house  was  introduced,  and  after  awhile  houses  were  made 
of  boards  sawed  with  a  whipsaw.  It  was  a  long  time  before 
sawmills  were  introduced.  The  dress  of  these  settlers  who 
went  to  the  valley  was  very  different  from  that  of  the  set- 
tlers of  Eastern  Virginia.  It  was  altogether  of  homespun 
material.  The  settlers  had  few  things  that  were  imported 
from  England.  In  colonial  days  the  married  men  generally 
shaved  their  heads  and  wore  wigs.  About  the  time  of  the 
Revolution  this  custom  was  laid  aside.  Knee-breeches  were 
in  vogue,  but  the  gentlemen  in  the  western  part  of  the  State 
took  to  wearing  long  trousers  long  before  they  did  in  Eastern 
Virginia.  The  women  used  the  short  gown  and  petticoat 
made  of  the  plainest  material.  The  German  element  which 
came  into  the  colony  usually  wore  tight  calico  caps  on  their 
heads.  In  the  summer  season  they  wore  no  other  clothes 
than  a  linen  shift  and  petticoat,  with  bare  feet,  hands  and 
arms.  They  worked  in  the  harvest  field  with  the  men,  and 
many  of  the  women  were  the  most  expert  reapers  with  the 
scythe.  Not  infrequently  they  followed  also  the  plow. 
There  were  few  slaves,  if  any,  introduced  into  this  section  m 
colonial  days.  The  barns  in  the  valley  were  better  than  the 
houses    in    which    the    farmers    dwelt.      Among    the    poorer 


THE  WESTWARD  MOVEMENT— i7i6-'74.       305 

class  and  the  middle  class  their  beds  were  of  straw  chaff, 
with  a  fine  feather  bed  for  the  winter.  The  German  and 
Dutch  element  in  the  valley  proved  to  be  most  excellent  and 
thrifty  farmers. 

In  1738  the  settlers  in  the  valley  of  the  Scotch-Irish  ex- 
traction requested  the  Governor  to  allow  them  to  exercise 
their  right  of  worship,  claiming  that  they  were  absolutely 
loyal  to  the  ruling  house  in  England.  The  Governor  replied 
that  no  interruption  would  be  imposed  upon  them  in  the  ex- 
ercise of  their  religious  rights,  and  that  they  would  have  all 
the  rights  entitled  to  them  under  the  English  act  of  tolera- 
tion. They  were  not  required  to  do  what  was  done  in  East- 
ern Virginia,  to  register  their  meeting-houses,  neither  was 
the  number  limited.  Neither  were  they  liable  to  fine  for  not 
attending  the  parish  church.  However,  they  were  expected 
to  contribute  to  the  support  of  the  parish,  and  really  not  until 
1781  was  a  person  legally  married  unless  the  ceremony  was 
exercised  by  the  minister  of  the  established  church. 

Among  the  first  settlers  to  come  into  the  upper  valley 
and  settle  in  the  present  Augusta  county,  was  John  Lewis. 
Lewis  was  am  Irishman,  of  the  rank  of  a  gentleman,  and  his 
wife,  Margaret  Lynn,  was  of  noble  ancestry.  In  Ireland  he 
lived  on  the  property  of  a  cruel  lord,  who,  becoming  jealous 
of  the  prosperity  of  his  tenant,  tried  to  make  Lewis  give  up 
his  lease.  When  the  latter  refused,  the  nobleman  came  with 
some  men,  attacked  Lewis's  house,  and  firing  upon  it  without 
notice,  killed  an  invalid  brother.  This  so  enraged  Lewis  that, 
with  his  servants,  he  killed  the  nobleman  and  his  steward.  He 
thereupon  fled  from  Ireland,  came  to  America,  and  was  the 
first  white  man  to  settle  in  Augusta  county.  His  home  was 
only  a  few  miles  from  Staunton,  which  city  he  founded. 

Soon  after  Lewis  had  settled  in  the  valley  he  visited  Wil- 
liamsburg, where  he  met  with  Benjamin  Borden,  who,  greatly 


3o6  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA. 

pleased  with  Lewis's  accounts  of  the  valley,  decided  to  cross 
the  Blue  Ridg-e  and  to  explore  that  region.  At  that  time  buf- 
faloes roamed  in  the  valley,  and  one  day  the  sons  of  John 
Lewis  caught  a  little  buffalo  calf,  which  they  presented  to 
Borden.  On  returning  to  Williamsburg,  Borden  gave  it  to 
Governor  Gooch,  who  was  so  delighted  with  this  unusual  pet 
that  he  authorized  Borden  to  take  up  five  hundred  thousand 
acres  of  land  at  the  headwaters  of  the  Shenandoah  and  James 
Rivers  (Augusta  and  Rockbridge  counties),  on  the  condition 
that  he  would  send  settlers  into  the  valley.  Borden  at  once 
brought  colonists  from  England,  and  soon  there  were  thriv- 
ing settlements  in  this  region,  then  a  part  of  Orange  county. 

The  Lewises  were  Scotch-Irish,  and  their  lives  clearly  in- 
dicate what  type  of  men  they  were.  The  eldest  son  of  John 
Lewis  was  Thomas,  who,  on  account  of  his  poor  eyesight, 
could  not  take  part  in  the  Indian  wars  which  harassed  the 
settlers  on  the  frontier.  He  was,  however,  a  man  of  promi- 
nence in  Augusta,  which  county  he  represented  in  the  House 
of  Burgesses,  when  he  voted  in  favor  of  Patrick  Henry's  fa- 
mous resolutions  of  1765  opposing  the  Stamp  Act.  He  was  a 
member  of  the  Constitutional  Convention  that  framed  the  first 
Virginia  Constitution,  and  of  the  convention  which  ratified 
the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  in  1788.  His  home  was 
in  that  part  of  Augusta  which  was  made  into  Rockingham 
county  in  1778. 

Another  son  of  John  was  William,  who  fought  in  many 
wars  against  the  Indians,  and  was  an  officer  in  the  Revolu- 
tionary army  when  Tarleton  drove  the  Virginia  Legislature 
from  Charlottesville.  At  that  time  William  Lewis  was  un- 
able to  go  to  the  defense  of  his  State  on  account  of  sickness, 
but  his  wife  told  her  three  sons,  who  were  only  thirteen,  fif- 
teen and  seventeen  years  of  age,  to  prepare  for  war,  saying: 
"Go,  my  children,  keep  back  the  foot  of  the  invader  from  the 


THE  WESTWARD  MOVEMENT— i7i6-'74.       Z07 

soil  of  Augusta,  or  see  my  face  no  more."  When  this  story 
was  reported  to  Washington,  he  said:  "Leave  me  but  a  ban- 
ner to  plant  upon  the  mountains  of  Augusta,  and  I  will  rally 
around  me  the  men  who  will  lift  our  bleeding  country  from 
the  dust  and  set  her  free." 

For  daring  deeds  Charles  Lewis,  the  youngest  son,  was 
well  known,  and  many  a  story  has  been  repeated  about  him 
around  the  firesides  of  the  valley.  On  one  occasion  Charles 
was  taken  prisoner  by  the  Indians,  who,  having  bound  his 
hands  behind  him,  were  marching  him  barefooted  across  the 
Alleghanies.  All  the  while  he  was  looking  for  an  oppor- 
tunity to  escape.  Finally,  as  he  was  passing  along  the  edge 
cf  a  deep  ravine  through  which  ran  a  swift  mountain  stream, 
he  plunged  fearlessly  over  the  precipice,  and  as  he  did  so  he 
succeeded  in  breaking  the  cords  which  bound  his  hands.  The 
Indians  jumped  after  and  chased  him  down  the  ravine.  But 
he  ran  across  a  field,  leaped  over  some  fallen  trees,  and  hid 
himself  in  the  tall  weeds.  The  Indians  failed  to  find  him, 
although  they  made  a  long  and  faithful  search.  While  Lewis 
was  lying  hid  in  the  grass  he  perceived  a  huge  rattlesnake 
coiled  and  ready  to  attack  him.  He  knew  that  if  he  shud- 
dered, or  winked  his  eye  even,  that  the  rattlesnake  would 
strike,  so  he  kept  perfectly  still  for  more  than  an  hour,  until 
the  rattlesnake  crossed  over  his  body  and  crawled  away. 
Charles  Lewis  became  a  major  in  the  Virginia  militia,  and 
fell  bravely  fighting  the  Indians  at  Point  Pleasant. 

But  the  best  known  of  the  sons  of  John  Lewis  was  Gen- 
eral Andrew  Lewis,  who  was  born  in  Ireland,  probably  about 
the  year  1716.  In  personal  appearance  he  was  very  imposing, 
being  more  than  six  feet  high.  He  had  a  giant's  frame,  and 
the  "earth  seemed  to  rumble  under  him  as  he  walked."  He 
was  stern  of  countenance,  and  repulsive  to  those  who  did  not 
know  him  well.  To  the  Indians  the  mention  of  his  name 
broug'ht  terror. 


3o8  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA. 

When  a  very  young-  man  he  was  engaged  in  many  fights 
with  the  Indians,  for  hardly  had  the  valley  been  settled  be- 
fore Indians  from  the  borders  of  the  Ohio  River  crossed  the 
Alleg-hanies,  destroyed  many  homes  and  killed  many  settlers. 
Among-  the  first  to  take  arms  against  the  savag-es  were  the 
Lewis  brothers. 

In  1756  Governor  Dinwiddle  determined  to  send  an  expe- 
dition ag-ainst  the  Shawnee  Indians,  who  lived  on  the  Ohio 
River  near  the  mouth  of  Big-  Sandy  River.  For  this  under- 
taking- Major  Andrew  Lewis  v\^as  selected  to  command  the 
forces.  His  little  army  had  a  long  march  through  a  great 
wilderness,  for  there  were  few  settlements  west  of  the  Alle- 
ghany Mountains,  the  first  settlers  having-  gone  to  that  region 
about  1748.  After  a  month's  time  all  of  the  provisions  of  the 
little  army  had  been  consumed,  but  the  troops  managed  to 
live  upon  the  elks  and  buffaloes  that  they  shot  in  the  forests. 
Lewis,  failing  to  find  the  Indians,  returned  to  Augusta.  Gov- 
ernor Dinwiddle  was  displeased  because  nothing  had  been  ac- 
complished, and  wrote  that  "Major  Lewis  and  his  men  did 
not  know  the  way  to  the  Shawnee  towns."  Although  Lewis 
had  been  unsuccessful  in  this  expedition,  the  Governor  soon 
afterwards  sent  him  with  a  force  into  the  Cherokee  country. 
Hither  Lewis  proceeded  and  built  a  fort  on  the  Tennessee 
River  about  thirty  miles  south  of  the  present  site  of  Knox- 
ville. 

In  the  meantime  it  was  reported  that  the  French  and  In- 
dians were  marching  from  Fort  Duquesne  (Pittsburg,  Pa.), 
and  were  going  to  attack  Winchester,  so  the  Governor  called 
out  the  militia  oi  ten  counties  to  serve  under  Washington. 
Lewis  was  ordered  to  raise  a  company  of  Cherokees  and  to 
join  Washington,  but  the  Indians  were  unwilling  to  serve, 
and  when  Lewis  returned  from  the  Cherokee  country  he 
brought  only  seven  warriors  and  three  women,  instead  of  four 


THE  WESTWARD  MOVEMENT— i7i6-'74.       309 

hundred  warriors  as  had  been  expected.  Governor  Dinwiddle 
was  again  greatly  disappointed,  but  he  then  learned  that  the 
Virginians  could  not  hope  to  enlist  the  Scuthern  Indians  to 
fight  the  French  and  the  Indians  of  the  Northwest. 

The  people  of  Augusta  were  in  constant  fear  of  the  In- 
dian raids,  so  long  as  the  French  remained  in  control  of  the 
Northwest ;  therefore,  Lewis  kept  the  militia  of  the  county  in 
readiness  for  any  emergency.  Great  was  their  joy  when  it 
became  known  that  William  Pitt,  the  great  English  states- 
man, was  determined  to  capture  Fort  Duquesne  and  Quebec, 
and  drive  the  French  from  North  America.  General  Forbes 
was  sent  (1758)  to  take  Fort  Duquesne,  and  Washington 
joined  him  with  about  eighteen  hundred  Virginia  soldiers,  of 
whom  two  companies  were  under  the  command  of  Major  An- 
drew Lewis 

On  arriving  in  the  neighborhood  of  Fort  Duquesne,  Forbes 
sent  Major  Grant  with  eight  hundred  men,  including  Major 
Lewis  and  his  two  companies,  to  reconnoitre  the  place.  Grant, 
refusing  to  take  advice,  allowed  himself  to  be  entrapped  by 
the  Indians.  Lewis  was  left  to  guard  the  baggage,  while 
Grant  and  his  troops  went  to  examine  the  condition  of  the 
garrison.  Suddenly  Grant  was  attacked  by  the  Indians,  who, 
hidden  behind  the  trees,  could  not  be  seen,  and  the  British 
regulars  were  driven  back  with  great  loss.  Lewis,  hearing 
the  noise  of  the  battle,  hastened  with  his  troops  to  the  scene 
of  action.  He  and  his  men  were  attacked  by  the  Indians  with 
tomahawk  and  scalping-knife.  Lewis  fpught  hand  to  hand 
with  an  Indian  warrior,  whom  he  killed.  Finding  himself 
surrounded  by  the  Indians,  he  surrendered  to  a  French  soldier 
in  order  to  save  his  life.  He  was  treated  with  great  indignity, 
stripped  of  all  his  clothing  and  carried  a  prisoner  to  the  fort. 
It  is  not  known  how  long  he  remained  in  prison,  but  he  was 
probably  released  when  General  Forbes  captured   Fort  Du- 


3i6  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA. 

quesne.  After  the  French  were  driven  out  of  the  Northwest, 
there  were  few  Indian  raids  into  Augusta  county,  and  for  some 
time  we  hear  little  of  Lewis. 

Settlers  came  in  great  numbers  to  the  valley,  so  that  by 
1769  it  was  felt  that  Augusta  county  ought  to  be  again  di- 
vided. The  southern  part,  then  including  all  of  Southwest 
Virginia,  was  cut  off  and  made  into  the  county  of  Botetourt. 
In  this  section,  not  far  from  the  present  site  of  Salem,  An- 
drew Lewis  lived,  and  when  Botetourt  was  formed  he  was 
made  a  justice  of  the  peace  for  that  county. 

In  1774  the  Governor  of  Virginia  was  Lord  Dunmore. 
Many  settlers  had  by  this  time  pushed  their  way  across  the 
Alleghany  Mountains,  and  some  had  their  eyes  turned  to  Ken- 
tucky ;  but  as  yet  no  county  had  been  organized  west  of  the 
Alleghanies.  The  Indians  along  the  Ohio  River,  fearing  that 
they  would  lose  their  lands,  rose  against  the  whites,  burned 
many  settlements  and  killed  the  settlers.  In  retaliation  some 
of  the  frontiersmen  had  attacked  and  killed  the  entire  family 
of  an  Indian  chief,  named  Logan.  This  brought  on  a  general 
war  along  the  frontier,  and  Lord  Dunmore  at  once  prepared 
to  defend  the  western  settlements. 

Andrew  Lewis  was  appointed  brigadier-general,  and  forth- 
with he  raised  a  force  of  eleven  hundred  men,  chiefly  from  Au- 
gusta, Botetourt,  Culpeper  and  Bedford  counties.  These  men 
were  bold  a  nd  brave  frontiersmen.  "They  wore  fringed  hunting 
shirts  dyed  yellow,  white,  brown,  and  even  red.  Quaintly  carved 
shot-bags  and  powder-horns  hung  from  their  broad  belts.  They 
had  fur  caps,  or  soft  hats,  moccasins  and  coarse  woolen  leg- 
gins  reaching  half  way  up  to  the  thigh.  Each  carried  his  flint- 
lock, his  tomahawk  and  scalping-knife." 

With  such  men  Lewis  marched  from  Lewisburg,  in  what 
is  now  Greenbrier  county,  one  hundred  and  sixty  miles  through 
the  wilderness  to  the  juncture  of  the  Ohio  and  the  Kanawha 


THE  WESTWARD  MOVEMENT— i7i6-'74.       311 

Rivers,  and  took  up  his  positipn  on  the  point  of  land  betAveen 
the  rivers  known  as  Point  Pleasant.  Here  he  expected  to  be 
joined  by  Lord  Dunmore,  who  commanded  an  army  raised 
in  Frederick  and  the  adjoining-  counties  in  Northern  Virginia. 
Dunmore  did  not  arrive,  but  sent  messages  to  Lewis  that  he 
had  gone  to  attack  the  Shawnee  towns  across  the  Ohio,  and 
ordered  Lewis  to  cross  the  river  and  join  him.  Before  Lewis 
could  obey,  he  was  attacked  by  the  Indian  leader.  Cornstalk, 
with  two  thousand  men.  The  battle  was  a  fierce  and  bloody 
struggle,  and  was  a  sort  of  single-handed  combat.  The  fight- 
ing was  done  at  close  range.  Each  man  sheltered  himself  be- 
hind a  stump,  a  rock  or  a  tree  trunk.  The  Indians  fully  ex- 
pected to  gain  the  victory,  but  the  frontiersmen  under  Andrew 
Lewis  were  too  valiant  for  their  enemy.  When  the  savages 
began  to  waver,  the  voice  of  Cornstalk  could  be  heard  above 
the  din  of  battle  calling  to  his  warriors:  "Be  strong!  Be 
strong!"  After  a  desperate  resistance  the  Indians  broke  and 
fled.  The  victory  was  decisive,  but  an  expensive  one.  "The 
loss  of  the  Virginians  was  heavy.  Two  colonels,  seven  cap- 
tains, three  lieutenants  and  seventy-five  men  were  killed,  and 
one  hundred  and  forty  wounded.  Out  of  every  five  men  one 
was  dead  or  wounded."  The  Indians  lost  even  more  heavily, 
and  were  never  again  able  to  meet  the  Virginians  on  the  east 
side  of  the  Ohio  in  open  battle. 

We  are  not  to  suppose,  however,  that  there  were  not  In- 
dian raids  from  time  to  time.  These  occurred  frequently, 
and  every  pioneer  barred  his  doors  at  night  and  kept  his  gun 
at  the  head  of  his  bed  as  he  slept,  not  knowing  at  what  time 
the  Indians  might  attack.  The  women,  as  well  as  the  men, 
often  engaged  in  warfare  against  the  Indians.  Such  a  woman 
was  "Mad  Ann,"  of  Alleghany  county,  the  wife  of  John  Bailey, 
a  soldier  killed  at  the  battle  of  Point  Pleasant.  She  went 
about  dressed  in  a  woman's  skirt  and  a  man's  coat,  a  rifle  on 


312  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA. 

her  shoulder  and  a  tomahawk  and  butcher  knife  in  her  bek. 
She  could  climb  the  steepest  mountain,  whether  it  was  severe 
winter  or  hot  summer.  She  often  left  home  and  no  one  knew 
her  whereabouts,  and  when  she  returned  she  always  brought 
the  scalps  of  some  Indians.  Sometimes  she  engaged  in  hand- 
to-hand  fights  with  the  Indians.  She  lived  to  be  a  very  old 
woman,  and  died  in  1825,  almost  within  the  memory  of  our 
fathers.  Her  story  Is  but  an  indication  of  the  rough  pioneer 
life  before  and  after  the  time  of  the  Revolution.  With  the 
battle  of  Point  Pleasant,,  open  warfare  with  the  Indians  was 
at  an  end,  but  the  settlers,  like  "Mad  Ann,"  often  had  to  hunt 
their  enemy  as  they  would  hunt  wolves. 

It  is  wonderful  to  recall  how  quickly  the  population  moved 
westward  in  Virginia.  In  1710,  as  far  as  we  know,  there  was 
not  a  white  settler  beyond  the  Blue  Ridge,  and  yet  in  sixty- 
five  years  more  than  one-third  of  the  white  population  of  Vir- 
ginia was  beyond  the  Blue  Ridge  and  the  Alleghanies,  and 
some  settlers  had  pushed  as  far  to  the  west  as  the  Mississippi 
River,  occupying  the  frontier  counties  of  Kentucky  and  Illi- 
nois. 


CHAPTER  XXII. 
THE  SETTLERS  OF  THE  FRONTIER. 

As  has  been  related  in  the  previous  chapter,  from  1730 
on  the  population  of  Virginia  was  moving  gradually  westward. 
In  the  year  1749  a  company  was  organized,  known  as  the  Ohio 
Company,  for  the  purpose  of  encouraging  westward  immigra- 
tion and  for  carrying  on  trade  among  the  Indians.  Of  this 
company  Lawrence  and  Augustine,  brothers  of  George  Wash- 
ington, were  active  and  conspicuous  members.  The  com- 
pany was  composed  of  thirteen  prominent  Virginians  and 
Marylanders,  with  one  London  merchant.  The  plans  of  the 
company  were  immediately  elaborated  with  reference  to  the 
two  main  objects  of  speculation  in  western  lands  and  of  carry- 
ing on  an  extensive  trade  with  the  western  Indians.  The 
company  obtained  from  the  crown  a  grant  of  five  hundred 
thousand  acres  of  land  in  the  Ohio  Valley,  located  mainly  be- 
tween the  Monongahela  and  Kanawha  Rivers.  Immediately 
on  obtaining  this  grant  immense  shipments  of  goods  were 
ordered  from  London  for  the  Indian  trade. 

In  1750  the  company  sent  Christopher  Gist,  a  well-known 
woodsman  and  trader  living  on  the  Yadkin  River,  down  on 
the  northern  side  of  the  Ohio  River,  with  instructions  to  ex- 
plore the  western  country  as  far  as  the  falls  of  the  Ohio,  to 
find  and  locate  a  tract  of  level  land,  to  discover  passes  in  the 
mountains,  to  follow  the  course  of  the  rivers  and  ascertain  the 
strength  of  the  Indian  nations.  Under  these  instructions  Gist 
set  out  upon  his  journey  and  made  the  first  exploration  of 

313 


514  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA. 

Southern  Ohio  of  which  there  is  any  acciount.  The  next 
year,  with  a  similar  purpose  in  view,  he  explored  the  country 
on  the  southern  side  of  the  Ohio,  goingf  as  far  as  the  Great 
Kanawha.  The  reports  which  he  made  of  his  explorations 
added  to  the  increasing  interest  in  the  western  country.  At 
this  time  it  was  evident  that  more  than  one  colony  was  hoping 
to  obtain  titles  to  these  western  lands,  and  many  efforts  were 
made  to  secure  treaties  with  the  Indians.  In  1744  deputies 
from  the  Iroqupis,  at  Lancaster,  Pa.,  made  to  Virginia  a  deed 
that  covered  the  whole  west  as  effectually  as  the  Virginia 
interpretation  of  the  charter  of  1609.  This  treaty  was  con- 
sidered of  very  great  importance  because  it  is  the  starting 
point  of  all  subsequent  negotiations  with  the  Indians,  It  was 
this  treaty  that  gave  the  English  their  first  real  hold  upon  the 
West,  and  as  Mr.  Hinsdale  says  in  "The  Old  Northwest," 
"It  stands  in  all  the  statements  of  the  English  claims  to  the 
western  country  side  by  side  with  the  Cabot  voyages." 

In  1752  Governor  Dinwiddle  effected  a  treaty  with  all  the 
western  Indians,  at  Logstown,  on  the  Ohio  River,  in  which  it 
was  agreed  that  no  settlement  south  of  the  Ohio  River  would 
be  molested  by  the  Indians. 

This  rapid  movement  to  the  west  was  followed  by  a  war 
with  the  Indians,  which  resulted  in  their  defeat  in  the  battle 
of  Point  Pleasant,  in  1744. 

It  is  the  purpose  of  this  chapter  to  tell  of  the  western  move- 
ment which  resulted  in  Clark's  conquest  of  the  Northwest. 
It  must  be  remembered  that  contemporaneous  with  this  west- 
ern movement  was  the  agitation  that  produced  the  Revolu- 
tionary War,  and  this  story  will  have  to  do  with  incidents 
that  were  somewhat  removed  from  the  main  field  and  centre 
of  Revolutionary  activities. 

In  the  year  1769,  the  year  that  Boone  first  went  to  Ken- 
tucky,  the  first   permanent    settlement  was   made   upon   the 


THE  SETTLERS  OF  THE  FRONTIER.  315 

banks  of  the  Watauga.  These  were  settlers  who  had  come 
out  of  Virginia  and  North  Carolina,  and  were  of  the  stock  of 
Pennsylvanians  who  had  previously  gone  to  Western  Vir- 
ginia and  North  Carolina.  They  were  a  robust  race,  enter- 
prising and  intelligent  and  adventurous.  They  were  the  de- 
scendants of  the  Irish  Calvinists,  and  were  strongly  of  the 
Presbyterian  persuasion.  Into  their  new  settlement  they  were 
followed  by  brave  preachers  of  their  faith,  who  divided  with 
them  the  dangers  and  toils  incident  to  frontier  life.  This 
settlement  seemed  at  first  to  be  but  an  enlargement  of  the 
Virginia  settlement,  and  the  settlers  thought  themselves  still 
in  the  domain  of  Virginia.  But  in  1771  a  surveyor  ran  put 
the  Virginia  boundary  line  to  the  westward  and  discovered 
that  the  Watauga  settlement  came  within  the  limits  of  North 
Carolina.  Discovering  that  they  were  not  under  the  do- 
minion of  Virginia  and  that  their  rights  against  the  Indians 
were  not  guaranteed  by  the  Virginia  Governor,  they  were 
thrown  back  on  their  own  resources  and  were  forced  to 
organize  for  themselves  a  civil  government. 

As  the  result  of  the  troubles  between  the  royal  Governor 
of  North  Carolina  and  certain  men  who  called  themselves 
regulators,  many  people  from  the  counties  of  North  Carolina 
were  forced  over  the  mountains  and  became  settlers  on  the 
Watauga  and  the  upper  Holston.  These  settlers  at  Watauga 
proved  to  be  the  founders  of  the  Commonwealth  of  Tennessee. 
In  1772  it  seemed  to  them  necessary  that  some  sort  of  gov- 
ernment should  be  organized.  Among  these  settlers  at  Wa- 
tauga were  two  men  distinguished  for  their  pre-eminent  abil- 
ity. They  were  John  Sevier  and  James  Robinson.  Robinson 
became  the  leader  in  the  effort  to  establish  a  commonwealth 
of  their  own.  They  adopted  written  articles,  which  were 
known  afterwards  as  "The  Articles  of  the  Watauga  Associa- 
tion," and  they  formed  a  written  Constitution.    It  is  said  that 


3i6  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA. 

"these  were  the  first  men  of  American  birth  to  establish  a 
free  and  independent  community  on  the  continent." 

In  this  same  year,  1769,  Daniel  Boone  was  exploring  the 
valley  of  the  Holston  and  Clinch  Rivers,  and  entered  the 
present  State  of  Kentucky  and  reached  the  vallc}^  of  the  Ken- 
tucky River. 

Boone  was  born  in  Pennsylvania  in  1735.  He  enjoyed 
small  advantagfes  in  the  way  of  schooling,  but  early  in  life 
learned  to  shoot  and  explore  the  forests  with  a  skill  equal  to 
that  of  an  Indian.  In  1752  he  went  with  this  father  to  live 
in  the  Yadkin  Valley,  and  from  this  region  he  began  to  make 
trips  of  exploration  into  the  wild  West.  Adventure  was  his 
ruling  passion,  but  for  other  reasons  he  desired  to  move  into 
the  western  region.  He  was  an  exceedingly  plain  man,  and 
he  was  thoroughly  satisfied  with  his  log  cabin  and  his  deer- 
skin clothes.  At  this  time  the  English  Governor  of  North 
Carolina  was  putting  on  great  airs,  and  had  introduced  the 
fashionable  ways  of  living  which  were  in  vogue  in  England. 
In  prder  to  support  the  extravagances  of  their  stylish  Gov- 
ernor, the  people  were  being  grievously  taxed.  Boone's  sim- 
ple life  rebelled  against  these  conditions,  and  he  determined 
to  explore  Kentucky  with  a  view  of  taking  his  family  into 
that  great  wilderness  and  establishing  a  home  there. 

In  1769,  with  five  companions,  he  set  out  upon  his  long 
journey  of  exploration.  They  wore  hunting  shirts  and  trous- 
ers made  of  deerskin.  Their  undergarments  were  of  coarse 
cotton,  and  around  their  bodies  were  leather  belts.  Each  one 
carried  a  tomahawk  on  his  right  side,  and  a  hunting-knife, 
powder-horn  and  bullet-pouch  on  his  left.  Over  all  this  lesser 
accoutrement  each  man  bore  upon  his  shoulder  his  long  and 
trusty  rifle. 

The  weather  was  stormy  and  the  way  through  the  tangled 
forests  was  hard  and  trying.     Their  garments  became  soiled 


THE  SETTLERS  OF  THE  FRONTIER.  317 

and  torn,  and  had  they  been  less  robust  they  would  have  died 
from  fatigue.  After  six  months,  during-  which  time  they  ex- 
plored much  of  Eastern  Kentucky,  they  were  suddenly  sur- 
prised by  Indians  and  taken  prisoners.  Boone  had  a  thor- 
oughly gpod  undetstandin^g  of  Indian  character.  He  knew 
that  the  best  way  to  win  the  favor  of  the  Indians  was  to  ap- 
pear satisfied ;  so  he  pretended  to  be  greatly  interested  in 
whatever  they  did,  and  held  himself  ready  always  to  give  them 
any  assistance  in  his  power.  The  Indians  were  thrown  off 
their  guard  and  were  less  vigilant  in  their  care  of  their  pris- 
oners. One  night,  while  the  savages  were  fast  asleep,  Boone 
quietly  got  up,  whispered  to  one  of  his  companions  named 
Stewart,  and  the  two  made  good  their  escape.  They  ran  aim- 
lessly through  the  wilderness,  but  when  the  Indians  awoke 
they  v/ere  far  beyond  their  reach.  They  wandered  through 
the  woods  for  days,  hoping  to  avoid  the  Indians  and  trusting 
somehow  to  find  their  way  back  tp  North  Carolina.  In  their 
wanderings  they  discovered  one  day  the  forms  of  two  men. 
Not  doubting  that  they  were  Indians,  they  grasped  their  rifles 
immediately  to  fire  upon  them,  but  before  doing  so  Boone 
cried  out,  "Hello,  strangers,  who  are  you?"  and  greatly  to 
their  relief  and  delight  the  answer  came  back,  "White  men, 
and  friends."  Boone's  delight  was  further  enhanced  when  he 
found  that  one  of  the  men  was  his  own  brother,  who  had  come 
from  North  Carolina  searching  for  them.  Boone  and  his  com- 
panion returned  to  North  Cariolina,  but  he  was  not  contented 
to  live  there.  So  in  1773  he  set  out  again  for  Kentucky,  this 
time  carrying  with  him  his  family.  Their  beds,  clothes  and 
provisions  were  strapped  on  packhorses,  while  they  drove 
their  cattle  before  them.  On  their  journey  they  were  met  by 
five  other  families,  making  altogether  a  party  of  forty.  They 
had  scarcely  reached  the  borders  of  Kentucky  before  they 
were  attacked  by  a  party  of  Indians.    In  the  battle  which  fol- 


3i8  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA. 

lowed  six  of  the  men  with  Boone  were  killed,  one  of  them 
beingf  his  eldest  son,  James,  a  lad  of  seventeen.  Boone  was 
so  distressed  b}^  this  calamity  and  bereavement  that  he  turned 
back  and  settled  on  the  Clinch  River,  which  flows  out  of  Vir- 
ginia into  Tennessee.  While  he  was  here  a  messenger  came 
from  Governor  Dunmore,  of  Virginia,  asking  him  to  enter  the 
service  of  Virginia.  He  accepted  the  appointment,  and  was 
made  captain  of  a  company  in  the  army  of  General  Andrew 
Lewis.  These  troops  were  led  by  Lewis  across  the  Allegna- 
nies,  and  in  an  engagement  at  Point  Pleasant,  where  the  Ohio 
and  the  Kanawha  Rivers  join,  the  Indians  were  defeated. 
Boone  then  returned  to  his  family,  and  in  1775  entered  into 
the  region  of  Kentucky  and  built  the  town  of  Boonesborough. 
He  declared  that  his  wife  and  daughters  were  the  first  white 
women  that  ever  stood  on  the  banks  of  the  Kentucky  River. 
Soon  other  families  followed  and  the  settlement  grew  rapidly. 
Many  settlers  came  from  Virginia,  and  among  them  was 
George  Rogers  Clark,  of  whom  we  shall  hear  more  presently. 

Hardly  had  Boone  left  Kentucky  when  the  news  came 
that  the  colonists  east  of  the  Alleghanies  were  at  war  with 
England.  The  Indians,  inspired  by  the  English  in  Canada, 
were  constantly  raiding  the  settlements  of  the  whites  along 
the  Ohio  River.  These  early  settlers  were  therefore  con- 
stantly subjected  to  the  danger  of  being  surprised  and  over- 
whelmed by  the  Indians.  Their  little  towns  w^ere  built  like 
forts,  so  that  they  might  the  n}ore  easily  and  surely  defend 
themselves.  But  in  spite  of  all  precautions,  most  of  them 
were  captured  and  killed  by  the  Indians. 

It  is  hard  for  us  in  these  latter  days,  with  all  the  conven- 
iences and  facilities  of  civilization  about  us,  to  have  any  ade- 
quate idea  or  appreciation  of  the  sufferings  incident  to  the 
life  of  these  great  pioneers.  Among  other  things  greatly 
needed  by  these  Kentucky  settlers  was  salt.     There  was  a 


THE  SETTLERS  OF  THE  FRONTIER.  319 

place  on  the  Licking-  River  where  it  could  be  gotten,  and 
Boone  was  sent  with  thirty  men  to  procure  a  supply  for  the 
settlement.  While  he  was  engaged  in  the  manufacture  of 
salt  he  was  surprised  by  the  Indians  and  taken  prisoner.  They 
carried  him  across  the  Ohio  River  towards  the  Great  Lakes. 
His  skill  as  a  marksman  soon  won  for  him  the  admiration  of 
the  Indians,  and  Blackfish,  a  Shawnee  chief,  adopted  him  as 
his  own  son.  The  adoption  was  according  to  the  Indian  cere- 
monies, which  was  not  without  both  painful  and  humorous 
aspects.  His  hair  was  pulled  out  by  a  slow  process,  except 
a  single  tuft  on  the  tpp  of  his  head,  which  was  dressed  up 
with  ribbon  and  feathers.  He  was  next  taken  to  the  river  and 
thoroughly  washed  and  rubbed  in  order  that  his  white  blood 
might  be  removed.  His  face  and  head  were  then  painted  with 
various  colors,  and  the  ritual  of  adoption  was  consummated 
with  a  great  feast  and  the  usual  pipe-smoking. 

While  living  thus  among-  the  Indians,  Boone  was  con- 
stantly hoping  and  planning  to  effect  an  escape.  He  over- 
heard, on  one  occasion,  that  the  Indians  were  planning  a  raid 
on  Boonesborough,  and  he  determined  at  all  hazards  to  save 
the  little  town  and  his  family.  He  managed  finally  to  escape 
the  vigilance  of  the  Indians,  and  after  five  days  of  rapid  travel- 
ing he  reached  Boonesborough,  having-  gone  more  than  one 
hundred  and  sixty  miles.  During  the  five  days  he  ate  but  one 
meal,  which  was  a  turkey  that  he  shot  after  crossing  the  Ohio 
River.  He  knew  that  he  would  not  be  safe  until  he  crossed 
the  river,  for  the  Indians  were  in  hot  pursuit  of  him.  Sure 
enough,  after  he  reached  Boonesborough  it  was  attacked  by 
the  Indians,  but  Boone  had  come  in  time  to  have  the  place 
fortified,  and  the  Indians  were  driven  back.  Thus  by  Boone's 
bravery  and  determination  one  of  the  chief  settlements  of 
Kentucky  was  saved  from  destruction. 

Boone's  life  was  a  story  of  exciting  adventure,  and  many 


320  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA. 

interesting-  incidents  are  related  of  him.  On  one  occasion  he 
was  in  his  tobacco  house  hanging  tobacco  which  was  not 
quite  dry.  He  was  in  the  top  of  the  barn  when  four  stout 
Indians  with  guns  entered  the  door  and  called  out,  "Now, 
Boone,  we've  got  you.  You  no  get  away  more.  We  carry 
you  off  this  time.  You  no  cheat  us  any  more."  Boone  looked 
down  from  his  perch  and  saw  four  guns  aimed  at  his  breast. 
He  recognized  the  Indians  as  the  same  who  had  taken  him 
prisoner  when  he  was  making  salt.  He  calmly  and  pleasantly 
replied,  "Ah,  old  friends,  glad  to  see  you."  He  was  ordered 
to  come  down.  To  this  he  readily  assented,  but  asked  the 
Indians  to  wait  a  moment  until  he  had  finished  moving  his 
tobacco,  and  while  discharging  this  task  he  inquired  of  them 
about  the  Indians  whom  he  had  known  near  the  Great  Lakes, 
and  promised  to  give  them  tobacco  when  it  was  cured.  While 
engaged  thus  in  conversation  he  was  getting  together  a  num- 
ber of  sticks  of  very  dry  tobacco.  Suddenly  he  threw  him- 
self upon  the  Indians  with  the  dry  tobacco,  which  crumbled 
and  filled  their  mouths  and  eyes,  so  blinding  them  that  they 
could  not  see  to  shoot  as  he  ran  out  and  hastened  to  his  cabin, 
thus  effecting  his  escape. 

For  his  valuable  services  in  fighting  the  Indians,  Boone 
received  large  grants  of  land,  but  he  neglected  to  have  the 
deeds  recorded,  and  so  finally  he  lost  all  of  his  land.  When 
he  realized  that  he  had  forfeited  these  lands  in  Kentucky  by 
his  neglect,  he  decided  to  go  further  into  the  wild  West,  which 
embraced  in  those  days  all  of  the  territory  west  of  the  Mis- 
sissippi River,  known  as  Louisiana.  Boone  had  heard  of  the 
marvelous  fertility  of  Louisiana,  so  in  1795  ^^  crossed  over 
the  Mississippi  River  and  found  a  home  in  what  is  now  the 
State  of  Missouri,  not  very  far  away  from  St.  Louis.  At  that 
time  all  of  that  vast  region  was  under  the  control  of  Spain. 
The    Spanish   government   hearing  of  Boone's   prowess   and 


THE  SETTLERS  OF  THE  FRONTIER.  321 

bravery,  made  him  commandant  of  St.  Louis,  and  granted  him 
nine  thousand  acres  of  land  on  the  Missouri  River.  In  a  few 
)^ears  Louisiana  was  transferred  by  Spain  to  the  French,  from 
whom  the  United  States  bought  it  in  1803. 

Boone's  family  soon  followed  him,  together  with  many- 
other  American  settlers.  Once  again  Boone's  failure  to  ob- 
serve legal  proprieties  and  requirements  in  the  small  matter 
of  having  deeds  recorded  lost  him  all  the  lands  that  had  been 
granted  in  Louisiana.  He  was  now  an  old  man.  He  had 
wandered  through  the  wilderness  of  Kentucky,  crossed  the 
Mississippi  and  was  probably  about  the  first  citizen  of  the 
United  States  to  settle  on  the  Missouri  River.  He  had  left 
Kentucky  owing  debts,  and,  being-  an  honest  man,  he  was 
greatly  disturbed  in  his  desire  to  liquidate  them.  With  this 
intention  he  returned  to  his  old  occupation  of  hunting,  and 
in  one  winter  was  so  successful  that  he  was  able  to  return  tD 
Kentucky  and  fully  pay  all  of  his  obligations,  returning-  to 
St.  Louis  Avith  only  fifty  cents  in  his  pockets.  To  some  friend 
he  remarked :  "Now  I  am  ready  and  willing  to  die.  I  am  re- 
lieved from  the  burden  which  has  so  long  oppressed  me.  I 
have  paid  all  of  my  debts,  and  no  one  will  say  when  I  am 
gone,  Boone  was  a  dishonest  man.  I  am  perfectly  willing  to 
die." 

A  little  later  he  asked  the  Legislature  of  Kentucky  to  re- 
store to  him  his  lands  and  to  appeal  to  Congress  in  his  favor. 
The  Kentucky  Legislature  at  once  presented  his  claim  to  Con- 
gress, and  in  1814  Congress  passed  an  act  giving  Boone  about 
one  thousand  acres  of  land  in  Missouri.  Boone  was  then 
seventy-nine  years  old,  but  his  mind  was  still  alert  and  vig- 
orous. He  lived  six  years  longer,  during-  which  time  Missouri 
had  grown  rapidly,  and  when  he  died,  in  1820,  that  Territory 
was  knocking  for  admission  as  a  State  into  the  Union. 

The  Western  States  can  never  forget  Boone.     He  blazed 


322  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA. 

the  way  througfh  the  wilderness  into  Kentucky  and  across  the 
Mississippi  into  the  far  West. 

Boone  was  honest,  unselfish,  wise  and  courageous.  He 
was  devoted  to  his  family,  especially  to  his  children  and  his 
grandchildren.  It  is  said  that  he  had  no  greater  pleasure  in 
his  old  age  than  to  make  for  his  grandchildren  powder-horns 
and  to  teach  them  how  to  handle  the  rifle.  Twenty-five  years 
after  his  death  his  remains  were  taken  from  the  banks  lof  the 
Missouri  and  brought  to  Frankfort,  Ky.,  where  they  were  re- 
interred  with  befitting  and  imposing  ceremonies.  There  were 
representatives  from  every  county  in  Kentucky,  and  many 
people  from  the  West  came  together  to  honor  the  pioneer  of 
the  great  Mississippi  Valley, 

Many  Virginians  who  were  attracted  by  the  story  of 
Boone's  adventures  and  by  the  reports  concerning  the  beauty 
and  fertility  of  the  western  country  were  soon  following  the 
great  pioneer  into  Kentucky.  Among  these  was  George  Rog- 
ers Clark.  He  was  born  in  Albemarle  county,  Virginia,  in 
1752,  not  far  from  the  birthplace  of  Thomas  Jefferson.  In 
after  years  there  sprang  up  a  strong  friendship  between  these 
two,  though  there  is  no  evidence  to  show  that  this  friendship 
began  in  their  boyhood  days.  His  early  years  were  spent  in 
Caroline  county,  Virginia,  and  he  went  to  school  to  Mr.  Don- 
ald Robinson,  and  was  a  playmate  and  friend  of  James  Madi- 
son, who  afterwards  became  President  of  the  United  States. 
Following  the  example  of  Washington  and  other  eminent 
men,  he  became  a  surveyor,  and  in  a  few  years  took  up  for 
himself  a  tract  of  land  about  twenty-five  miles  from  where 
Wheeling,  West  Virginia,  now  stands.  When  Dunmore  took 
the  field  against  the  Indians  in  the  Northwest,  Clark  joined 
him.  He  was  not,  however,  at  the  battle  of  Point  Pleasant, 
because  Lord  Dunmore,  under  whose  immediate  command  he 
was,  failed  to  join  General  Andrew  Lewis  at  the  time  and 


THE  SETTLERS  OF  THE  FRONTIER.  323 

place  agreed  upon.  In  1775  he  took  up  his  residence  in  Ken- 
tucky, and  became  interested  at  once  in  all  schemes  that 
looked  for  the  protection  of  the  people  against  the  savages 
and  for  the  general  improvement  of  the  country. 

Soon  the  question  of  the  relation  of  Kentucky  to  Virginia 
was  being  agitated,  and  there  was  a  general  desire  that  the 
question  might  be  determined,  and,  if  possible,  in  favor  of  an 
organic  connection  with  Virginia.  A  meeting  was  called,  at 
which  it  was  determined  to  send  two  delegates  to  the  Vir- 
ginia Legislature.  For  some  reason  Clark  failed  to  put  in  his 
appearance  at  this  meeting  until  after  this  action  had  been 
taken.  His  idea  was  that  they  should  send  two  agents  to 
Williamsburg  with  power  to  act  in  any  way  that  they  might 
deem  wise  after  the  situation  had  been  gone  over  at  Williams- 
burg. He,  however,  readily  acquiesced  in  the  action  of  the 
meeting,  and  soon,  with  John  Gabriel  Jones,  the  other  dele- 
gate, set  out  upon  the  long  journey  through  the  wilderness 
to  Williamsburg,  This  journey  was  not  taken  by  the  water 
route,  but  over  what  was  known  as  the  wilderness  rioad,  which, 
it  is  presumed,  was  no  road  at  all.  It  was  a  wet  season,  and 
the  travel  was  made  exceedingly  difficult  and  disagreeable. 
They  were  constantly  threatened  by  an  attack  by  the  Indians. 
Clark  lost  his  horse  on  the  way  and  had  to  walk.  He  said 
afterwards  that  he  "suffered  more  torment  than  he  had  ever 
done  before  or  since."  They  were  disappointed  in  not  finding 
people  at  Martin's  Fort,  near  Cumberland  Gap,  as  they  had  con- 
fidently hoped,  but  they  were  so  exhausted  that  they  took  up 
a  brief  residence  in  the  abandoned  quarters  and  recuperated, 
and  prepared  for  the  rest  of  the  journey. 

On  their  arrival  at  Williamsburg  they  found  the  Legisla- 
ture already  adjourned.  He  tells  in  his  diary  that  he  settled 
with  the  auditor  and  drew  £726  from  the  treasurer.  He 
relates  that  he  bought  cloth  for  a  jacket,  paying  £4,  15s.  for 


324  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA. 

it,  with  an  added  3s.  for  buttons.  He  also  relates  that  he 
bought  a  lottery  ticket  at  the  cost  of  £3,  in  the  State  lottery. 
No.  10693,  first-class.  He  further  relates  that  he  went  to 
church  on  the  9th  inst. 

Jones  went  back  to  the  settlement  on  the  Holston  to  await 
the  meeting  of  the  next  Legislature,  but  Clark  remained  at 
Williamsburg,  desiring  earnestly  to  have  a  conference  with 
Governor  Patrick  Henry.  Governor  Henry  was  sick  at  this 
time  at  his  home  in  Hanover,  but  was  so  interested  in  Clark 
and  his  schemes  that  he  cheerfully  granted  him  a  hearing, 
and  recommended  that  the  Council  give  to  Clark,  for  use  in 
the  Northwest,  five  hundred  pounds  of  gunpowder.  The 
Council  was  reluctant  to  grant  the  request,  but  finally  did  so 
on  the  condition  that  Clark  would  pay  the  freight  for  its  trans- 
portation to  Kentucky  and  give  personal  bond  that  he  would 
return  the  cost  of  the  powder  to  the  Council  in  case  the  Leg- 
islature should  refuse  to  indorse  their  action.  Clark  was  very 
much  chagrined  at  the  conditions  named,  and  was  sorely 
tempted  to  promptly  decline  to  assume  any  further  responsi- 
bility in  the  matter.  He  concluded,  however,  to  have  further 
argument  with  the  Council,  and  told  them  that  if  Kentucky 
was  a  part  of  Virginia,  Virginia  certainly  owed  protection  to 
it ;  that  if  it  was  not  worth  protecting,  it  was  not  worth  hav- 
ing, and  then  he  adroitly  insinuated  that  if  this  request  should 
be  declined,  they  would  be  compelled  to  look  to  other  quar- 
ters for  their  assistance,  which,  he  doubted  not,  would  be 
speedily  and  gladly  furnished  him.  The  Council  yielded  to  the 
argument  of  Clark,  and  ordered  that  five  hundred  pounds  of 
gunpowder  be  forthwith  sent  to  Pittsburg,  and  there  held  sub- 
iect  to  the  orders  pf  George  Rogers  Clark  for  the  use  of  the 
inhabitants  of  Kentucky.  Clark  was,  of  course,  greatly  grati- 
fied at  this  issue,  not  simply  that  it  obtained  for  him  the  five 
hundred  pounds  of  gunpowder,  but  the  grant  seemed  to  in- 
volve the  recognition  of  Kentucky  as  a  part  of  Virginia. 


THE  SETTLERS  OF  THE  FRONTIER.  325 

He  remained  at  Williamsburg-  until  the  fall,  when  the  Leg- 
islature met  again.  Mr.  Jones  returned  from  the  Holston  set- 
tlement, likewise,  in  time  for  the  meeting  of  the  Legislature. 
They  were  at  first  not  admitted  as  full  members,  but  were 
permitted  very  close  relations  with  the  Legislature,  and  there 
is  unmistakable  evidence  that  they  had  great  influence  with 
the  body.  By  their  influence  the  Legislature  formally  recog- 
nized Kentucky  as  a  part  of  Virginia,  under  the  county  of 
Kentucky,  with  its  present  boundaries  as  a  State. 

After  the  close  of  the  Legislature,  Clark  and  Jones  returned 
to  Kentucky.  On  their  arrival  at  Pittsburg  they  found  that 
the  gunpowder  was  still  there,  not  having  been  forwarded  to 
Kentucky.  They  determined  that  they  themselves  would  un- 
dertake the  delivery  of  the  gunpowder.  They,  therefore,  took 
the  river  route,  which  was  exceedingly  dangerous,  because 
both  banks  of  the  river  were  frequented  by  Indians.  They 
reached  Maysville,  Kentucky,  but  were  afraid  to  undertake  to 
carry  the  powder  inland,  so  hid  it  in  several  places  along  the 
river,  Clark  hurrying  into  the  interior  to  organize  a  military 
force  from  Harrisburg  to  convey  the  powder  to  its  destina- 
tion. While  he  was  gone  on  this  mission,  a  Colonel  John 
Todd  arrived  with  a  small  force  and  attempted  to  convey  the 
powder  with  only  a  small  escort  of  ten  men.  They  were  no 
sooner  well  on  their  way  when  they  were  violently  attacked 
by  the  Indians  and  were  routed.  Among  the  killed  was  John 
Gabriel  Jones,  almost  on  the  threshold  of  his  own  home,  to 
which  he  was  returning  after  his  long  absence  in  Virginia. 

Upon  the  tidings  of  the  defeat  of  the  Todd  party,  a  com- 
pany of  thirty  was  raised,  who  succeeded  in  finding  the  pow- 
der and  delivering  it  finally  in  good  order. 

Clark  remained  in  Kentucky  until  October,  1777,  all  the 
time  projecting  and  perfecting  schemes  for  the  protection  of 
the  people,  and  brooding  in  the  meantime  over  the  possibilities 
and  desirability  of  capturing  the  Niorthwest  from  England.  He 


326  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA. 

soiig-ht  all  possible  information,  sent  spies  throughout  the 
Northwest  to  report  on  the  number  of  English  posts  and  to 
ascertain  the  sentiment  of  the  people  with  regard  to  an  alli- 
ance with  Americans  rather  than  with  the  English.  When 
he  had  secured  all  necessary  information  he  again  went  to 
Williamsburg,  where,  in  December,  1777,  he  laid  the  matter 
that  was  on  his  heart  befpre  Governor  Patrick  Henry.  Gov- 
ernor Henr}'  hesitated,  but  appreciated  the  importance  and 
comprehensiveness  of  Clark's  great  scheme.  Indeed,  so  im- 
portant did  he  esteem  it  to  be,  that  he  called  for  a  conference 
on  the  subject  with  such  men  as  Thomas  Jefferson,  George 
Wythe  and  George  Mason.  After  this  conference  he  called 
together  the  Council,  which  was  composed  pi  His  Excellency, 
John  Page,  Dudley  Diggs,  John  Blair,  Nathaniel  Harris  and 
David  Jameson.  The  Governor  related  to  the  Council  the 
purpose  and  details  of  the  scheme,  and  recommended  earnestly 
that  they  take  action  in  the  matter.  He  informed  them  that 
Kaskaskia  was  held  by  the  British,  with  cannon  and  other 
valuable  stores,  and  occupied  at  the  present  time  by  a  very 
weak  garrison.  The  Council,  after  some  debate,  voted  £1,200 
to  be  given  to  George  Rogers  Clark  to  organize  his  expedi- 
tion. The  action  was  taken  under  the  warrant  of  the  law 
passed  by  the  General  Assembl}-  authorizing  the  Governor 
and  Council  to  take  all  necessary  means  for  the  protection 
of  the  colonists.  Colonel  George  Rogers  Clark  was  author- 
ized to  organize  seven  companies.  Thc}^  were  to  go  to  Ken- 
tucky and  obey  such  orders  as  Clark  should  impose  upon 
them.  He  was  also  empowered  to  raise  these  men  in  any 
county  in  the  Commonwealth.  The  members  of  the  Council 
advising  the  movement  agreed  to  recommend  that  each  sol- 
dier, in  addition  to  the  usual  pay,  should  receive  a  land  grant 
of  three  hundred  acres.  Clark  got  together  a  force  of  one 
hundred  and  fifty  men,  which  he  concentrated  on  Corn  Island, 


THE  SETTLERS  OF  THE  FRONTIER.  327 

at  the  falls  of  the  Ohip  River.  Staying  here  long^  enough  to 
build  suitable  boats  for  transportation,  he  embarked  and  went 
down  the  Ohio  River  as  far  as  Fort  Masce,  whence  he 
made  his  march  to  Kaskaskia,  which  was  held  by  a  small  gar- 
rison of  English  troops.  He  occupied  the  place  without  being 
detected,  walked  into  the  fort  and  stood  in  the  doorway  of  the 
hall  and  watched  the  dancing.  The  English  did  not  see  him, 
but  an  Indian  who  was  present  noticed  the  stranger  and  raised 
a  war-whoop.  Colonel  Clark  quietly  quelled  the  disturbance, 
and  informed  the  gentlemen  that  they  could  proceed  with 
their  dance,  though  they  were  now  prisoners  in  the  hands  of 
the  Virginians.  He  then  went  to  the  home  of  the  commander, 
Rochblave,  whom  he  captured  in  bed.  There  were  some  im- 
portant papers  in  the  house  which  Colonel  Clark  was  very 
anxious  to  secure,  but  unfortunately  these  were  stored  in 
Madam  Rochblave's  room,  and  his  gallantry  and  respect  fior 
the  ladies  were  so  great  that  rather  than  invade  the  privacy 
of  the  lady's  chamber,  he  permitted  her  to  burn  the  papers 
without  being  disturbed. 

Kaskaskia  was  the  most  important  town  of  the  Northwest 
for  a  long  number  of  years.  It  was  the  capital  of  the  Illinois 
country  during  the  dominion  of  France,  Eno-land  and  Virginia. 
It  was  the  leading  town  of  the  Northwest  from  the  time  of 
its  organization  up  to  1800,  and  of  the  Indiana  territory  until 
1809.  At  the  time  of  its  capture  by  Clark  it  was  occupied  by 
several  hundred  families. 

After  the  capture  of  Kaskaskia,  Clark  set  out  to  take  pos- 
session of  Vincennes.  He  found  no  difficulty  in  receiving 
the  '  Et'pitulation  of  the  town,  for  its  inhabitants  were  French 
and  were  only  too  glad  to  transfer  their  allegiance  from  the 
flag  01  England  to  that  of  Virginia.  The  English  had  a  large 
force  in  Detroit,  under  the  command  of  Governor  Hamilton, 
v;ho,  on  hearing  of  the  occupancy  of  Illinois  by  Colonel  Clark, 


328  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA. 

determined,  if  possible,  to  dispossess  him  and  to  continue  to 
hold  the  Northwest  for  the  English,  He,  therefore,  moved 
with  a  large  force  to  the  south  and  recaptured  Vincennes. 
There  had  been  left  in  Vincennes  only  a  very  small  garrison 
of  Virginians,  whose  commander  understood  very  well  that 
they  could  not  resist  an  attack  from  Hamilton,  and  so  asked 
for  a  conference,  and  when  he  was  informed  that  he  might 
retire  with  the  honors  of  war,  he  gladly  did  so,  greatly  amaz- 
ing General  Hamilton  at  the  fewness  of  his  men. 

When  Clark  heard  that  Vincennes  had  again  fallen  into 
the  hands  of  the  English,  he  determined  to  get  together  his 
troops  again  and  to  capture  Hamilton  and  his  forces  or  to 
drive  them  from  the  Northwestern  land.  In  the  middle  of 
winter,  1779,  Clark  left  Kaskaskia  to  attack  Vincennes.  His 
march  was  a  bold  undertaking,  and  covered  a  distance  of  one 
hundred  and  sixty  miles  through  the  drowned  lands  of  the 
Wabash  River.  Often  the  soldiers  had  tiO  go  throup-h  water 
up  to  their  waists,  and  sometimes  even  to  their  necks,  but 
Clark  was  dauntless  and  his  men  were  brave,  so  they  pushed 
on  with  determination.  Toward  the  end  of  the  march  Clark 
found  the  water  so  deep  and  His  men  were  so  exhausted  from 
cold  and  hunger  that  he  feared  to  make  known  to  them  the 
real  situation.  He  theii  put  some  water  in  his  hands,  poured 
on  powder,  blackened  his  face,  gave  the  war-whoop  and 
marched  into  the  water  without  saying  a  word.  He  ordered  his 
men  to  begin  a  favorite  song,  and  the  whole  force  joining  in, 
marched  cheerfully  into  the  water.  After  sixteen  days  of  great 
perseverance  and  hardships,  Clark  reached  Vinccnr'^s.  His 
appearance  before  them  was  a  surprise,  as  Ham*  'O^rver 

dreamed  that  any  man  would  dare  to  march  from  K  jkia 
to  Vincennes  through  the  drowned  lands  of  the  Wabp^H.  River. 
Clark  ordered  him  to  surrender,  which  he  at  first  declined  to 
do,  but  that  night  Clark  made  such  a  vigorous  attack  on  the 


THE  SETTLERS  OF  THE  FRONTIER.  329 

fort  that  the  next  day  Hamihon  thouj^rht  it  wise  to  surrender. 
Clark  sent  a  boat  up  the  Wabash  River,  captured  forty  pris- 
oners and  $50,000  worth  of  goods  and  stores.  Hamilton  and 
some  of  the  officers  and  privates  were  sent  as  prisoners  to  Wil- 
liamsburg-. 

Not  only  did  Clark  drive  the  English  from  the  Northwest, 
but  he  also  subdued  the  Indians  in  that  region.  It  is  related 
that  he  met  them  in  many  conferences,  and  always  succeeded 
in  impressing  and  over-awing  them.  At  one  meeting  he  had 
only  seventy  men,  while  the  Indians  had  three  hundred.  The 
Indian  chief,  believing  that  he  was  stronger  than  Clark,  placed 
upon  a  table  at  which  Clark  was  seated  a  belt  of  white  and 
black  wampum,  signifying  that  Clark  could  take  either  peace 
or  war.  Taking  this  as  an  insult,  Clark  threw  the  wampum 
upon  the  floor,  trampled  on  it,  and  dismissed  the  Indians  from 
the  hall.  This  courageous  act,  which  meant  nothing  else  than 
war,  so  unnerved  the  Indians  that  they  at  once  began  to  fear 
Clark,  and  the  next  day  they  sued  for  peace. 

Having  thus  overcome  the  English  and  subdued  the  In- 
dians into  a  treaty,  Clark  had  now  absolute  control  of  the 
Northwestern  territory.  Virginia  was  greatly  delighted  with 
Clark's  splendid  achievements.  The  Legislature  passed  a 
vote  of  thanks  and  presented  him  with  a  sword,  on  the  scab- 
bard of  which  were  the  words,  "Sic  semper  tyrannis,"  and  on 
the  blade,  "A  tribute  to  the  cowrage  and  patriotism,  presented 
by  the  State  of  Virginia  to  her  beloved  son,  General  George 
Rogers  Clark,  who,  by  the  conquest  of  Illinois  and  Vincennes, 
extended  her  empire  and  aided  in  the  defense  of  her  liberties." 
For  their  services  in  the  war  Virginia  granted  to  Clark  and 
his  soldiers  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  acres  of  land  in 
what  is  now  the  State  of  Indiana.  Of  this  grant  Clark  received 
for  his  part  eight  thousand  acres,  and  each  private  received 
one  hundred  and  eight  acres. 


330  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA. 

In  October,  1778,  the  Virginia  Legislature  took  the  fol- 
lowing action  :  "All  citizens  of  the  Commonwealth  of  Virginia 
who  are  actually  settlers  there,  or  who  shall  hereafter  be  set- 
tled on  the  west  side  of  the  Ohio,  shall  be  included  in  the 
district  lof  Kentucky,  which  shall  be  called  Illinois  county." 
xA.nd  in  keeping  with  this  action  Governor  Henry  appointed  a 
lieutenant-commandant  for  the  new  county,  with  full  author- 
ity to  administer  government. 

Thus  it  was  in  1779  Illinois  became  a  county  in  the  State 
of  Virginia.  The  various  States  which  had  entered  into  the 
Union  became  unwilling  to  see  Virginia  hold  so  much  terri- 
tory. Maryland  finally  refused  to  ratify  the  Articles  of  Con- 
federation unless  all  of  this  western  territory  was  ceded  to 
the  Union.  This  Virginia  magnanimously  did  by  act  of  her 
Legislature  in  1782.  Other  States,  Connecticut  and  Massa- 
chusetts notably,  claimed  a  part  of  the  Northwestern  territory. 
There  can  be  no  doubt,  however,  but  that  Virginia's  claims 
were  the  more  reasonable ;  first,  her  charter  of  1609,  and  sec- 
ond, by  conquest,  "her  troops  sent  out  by  Virginia,  under 
George  Rogers  Clark."  Mr.  Hinsdale,  in  his  "Old  Northwest," 
truly  says :  "The  Northwest  had  been  won  by  a  Virginia 
army,  commanded  by  a  Virginia  officer,  put  in  the  field  at 
Virginia's  expense." 

In  the  State  Library  of  Virginia  are  a  great  number  of 
manuscripts  known  as  .The  George  Rogers  Clark  Papers," 
which  show  with  what  great  difficulty  Virginia  supplied  her 
troops  in  the  Northwest,  being  compelled  to  find  provisions 
even  from  so  great  a  distance  as  New  Orleans.  Clark  often 
complained  that  he  did  not  receive  sufficient  supplies.  The 
men  were  forced  frequently  to  go  without  shoes  and  clothes, 
and  often  their  rations  were  only  a  gill  of  whiskey,  a  pound 
of  beef  and  a  pound  of  flour  a  day. 

Sufficient  credit  is  not  always  given  to  Clark  and  to  Vir- 


THE  SETTLERS  OF  THE  FRONTIER.  331 

ginia  for  the  Northwest  territory.  If  Clark  had  not  conquered 
this  territory  it  would  have  remained  in  the  hands  of  the  Eng- 
hsh  until  the  close  of  the  Revolutionary  War.  By  the  treaty 
of  peace  with  England  which  acknowledged  the  independence 
of  the  United  States,  it  was  agreed  that  England  and  the 
United  States  should  each  retain  what  territory  they  held  at 
the  time  of  the  close  of  the  war.  By  this  treaty  Canada,  which 
was  never  conquered  by  the  United  States,  was  kept  by  Eng- 
land ;  but  since  Clark  had  conquered  the  Northwest  territory, 
this  remained  in  the  hands  of  the  United  States.  So  it  was 
through  thQ.  boldness  and  wisdom  of  George  Rogers  Clark 
that  we  now  have  in  our  nation  those  five  magnificent  States 
of  Ohio,  Indiana,  Illinois,  Michigan  and  Wisconsin.  When 
we  recall  how  much  territory  Virginia  has  given  to  the  Union, 
and  how  many  men  she  furnished  in  the  Revolutionary  period 
and  in  the  early  period  of  the  Union  that  shaped  the  affairs  of 
state,  it  is  easy  to  see  how  reasonable  is  the  claim  made  for 
her  that  she  is  the  mother  of  States  and  of  statesmen. 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 
PATRICK   HENRY,  VIRGINIA'S  GREAT  COMMONER 

We  are  now  to  return  from  our  excursions  westward  to  the 
stirring  scenes  associated  with  the  bringing  about  of  the  great 
Reviolutionary  struggle.  Perhaps  as  around  no  other  person 
the  incidents  going  immediately  before  the  Declaration  of  In- 
dependence gather  about  the  person  and  speech  of  Patrick 
Henry.  He  seems  to  have  been  raised  up  to  be  the  prophet  of 
the  Revolution  and  the  mouthpiece  and  exponent  of  those 
great  dynamic  principles  which  inspired  the  great  struggle  for 
liberty  and  crowned  it  with  splendid  success. 

Between  the  earlier  and  later  biographers  of  Mr.  Henry 
there  are  many  discrepancies,  and  consequently  much  confu- 
sion as  to  some  of  the  facts  of  his  life.  He  seems  to  have  been 
of  Scotch  ancestry  on  his  father's  side.  He  was  born  at  Stud- 
ley,  Hanover  county,  Va.,  May  29,  1736.  This  was  the  home 
iof  his  mother,  who  was  the  widow  of  Colonel  Symm  at  the 
time  of  her  marriage  to  Colonel  Henry.  It  will  be  remem- 
bered that  it  was  of  a  visit  to  her  home  while  on  a  tour  of  in- 
spection of  his  estates  that  Colonel  Byrd  makes  mention  in  the 
"Westover  Manuscripts."  At  that  time  she  was  a  hospitable 
and  prepossessing  widow.  Her  maiden  name  was  Sarah  Wins- 
ton, a  family  of  Welsh  extraction,  favorably  known  in  many 
descendants  throughout  Virginia  even  to  this  day. 

His  father.  Colonel  Henry,  was  a  native  of  Dundee,  Scot- 
land. He  seems  to  have  been  a  man  of  good  culture  and  of 
fine  standing  in  the  Cjommunity.     He  was  a  regimental  com- 

332 


PATRICK  HENRY.  333 

mander,  president  of  a  magisterial  court,  and  held  the  office 
of  county  surveyor,  which  in  those  days  was  an  important 
and  prominent  position,  for  many  years. 

Mr.  Henry  was  thoroughly  well  born,  and  on  both  sides 
of  his  family  there  was  a  lineage  of  which  he  might  well  be 
proud.  He  went  to  the  neighborhood  schools  until  he  was  ten 
years  old,  after  which  time  he  was  taught  by  his  father  and  an 
uncle  who  was  a  minister.  The  general  impression  that  Pat- 
rick Henry  was  an  uneducated  man  seems  to  be  somewhat 
wide  of  the  mark.  He  himself,  doubtless,  was  largely  respon- 
sible for  this  impression,  as  he  took  no  pains  to  parade  any 
knowledge  he  might  have ;  but,  on  the  other  hand,  seemed  for 
some  reason  disposed,  by  his  speech  and  conduct,  to  encourage 
the  idea  that  he  was  a  man  without  education  and  training. 
The  facts  of  the  case,  bowever,  when  thoroughly  sifted,  go  to 
prove  that  while  Mr.  Henry  could  not  in  any  broad  sense  be 
called  a  scholar,  he  was  not  without  an  education  very  far 
above  the  average  received  by  the  youth  of  his  time.  The 
fact  that  his  pronunciation  was  wretched  is  not  sufficient  to 
stamp  him  as  an  uneducated  man.  It  is  said  that  Jefferson 
told  Daniel  Webster  that  Patrick  Henry's  pronunciation  was 
vulgar  and  vicious.  Governor  John  Page  used  to  relate,  "on  the 
testimony  of  his  own  ears,"  that  Patrick  Henry  would  speak 
of  "the  yearth  and  of  men's  naiteral  parts  as  being  improved 
by  larning."  Many  cultivated  men  are  open  to  the  charge  of 
ignorance  if  Mr.  Henry  is  to  be  convicted  on  the  above  state- 
ments. There  is  room  for  belief  that  Mr.  Henry,  for  reasons 
of  expediency,  encouraged  the  idea  that  he  was  not  an  edu- 
cated man.  He  evidently  thought  that  such  an  impression 
would  the  more  closely  identity  him  with  the  mass  of  people. 
There  is  proof  that  he  received  a  good  classical  training  at  the 
hands  of  his  father  and  of  his  uncle  up  to  the  age  of  fifteen 
years,  and  that  his  attainments  in  mathematics  were  not  mean. 


334  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA. 

Colonel  Fontaine  has  an  anecdote  concerning  a  certain  French- 
man who  visited  his  grandfather's  house  while  he  was  Gov- 
ernor. The  French  visitor  was  not  able  to  speak  English,  and 
his  grandfather  not  being  able  to  speak  French,  they  selected 
the  Latin  language  as  a  medium  of  communication.  If  this 
story  be  true,  there  can  be  no  doubt  but  that  Mr.  Henry's 
knowledge  of  Latin  was  far  beyond  that  usually  possessed 
even  by  educated  men. 

His  manner  of  speech  and  method  of  writing,  both  in  his 
private  correspondence  and  in  official  documents,  prove  be- 
yond any  sort  of  doubt  that  Mr.  Henry  was  a  man  of  good 
intelligence,  cultivation  and  attainments.  It  is  said  that  he 
was  very  fond  bioth  of  the  Bible  and  of  "Butler's  Analogy." 
It  would  be  quite  impossible  for  one  to  be  familiar  with  either 
of  these  books  in  any  real  and  enthusiastic  way  and  not  be 
thoroughly  competent  to  write  and  speak  good  English. 

At  the  age  of  fifteen  he  was  put  to  clerk  in  a  country 
store,  a  career  upon  which  he  entered  with  small  taste  and 
enthusiasm.  After  a  short  apprenticeship  his  father  set  him 
and  his  younger  brother  up  in  business  on  their  own  account. 
It  seems  that  his  brother  was  as  little  qualified  for  the  career 
of  a  business  man  as  Patrick  himself  was.  The  venture  soon 
proved  to  be  a  failure.  Just  after  this  experience  in  bank- 
ruptcy, when  he  had  attained  the  age  of  eighteen,  he  added  to 
the  embarrassment  of  this  distressing  situation  by  marrying. 
The  name  of  the  brave  woman  who  was  willing  to  share  his 
lot  of  poverty,  and  who  was  said  to  be  quite  as  impecunious  as 
he  was,  was  Sarah  Shelton.  The  situation  seemed  to  call  for 
help  from  both  sides  of  the  family,  so  accordingly  the  parents 
of  both  parties  united  in  settling  the  young  couple  upon  a 
small  farm.  The  experiment  at  farming  was  as  uisastroug  as 
the  business  venture,  and  after  two  years  there  was  a  forced 
sale  of  whatever  remained  on  the  farm.     Patrick  concluded 


PATRICK  HENRY.  335 

that  perhaps  with  the  added  experience  of  the  years  at  farm- 
ing', a  business  venture  might  prove  more  succeissful,  and  he 
resolved  to  again  ppen  up  a  country  store.  A  third  failure 
followed  quickly  upon  the  heels  of  the  others. 

If  one  imagines  that  during  all  these  distressing  years  Pat- 
rick was  himself  greatly  distressed  or  disturbed,  one  is  much 
mistaken.  It  seems  that  he  was  possessed  of  a  most  perennial 
good  nature,  which  absolutely  refused  t|0  be  discouraged,  and 
could  find  no  situation  but  that  out  of  it  some  sort  of  pleasure 
or  (Satisfaction  might  be  had.  However  serious  the  situation 
might  seem  to  others,  Patrick  never  really  seemed  to  be 
gravely  impressed.  At  the  age  of  twenty-three  he  was  the 
father  of  a  group  of  small  children,  looking  to  him  for  daily 
bread  and  support,  and  there  was  absolutely  no  visible  means 
of  a  livelihood,  and  he  was  thrown  back  upon  his  wife's  father, 
who  kept  an  inn  at  Hanover  Courthouse,  for  shelter  and  /sup- 
port. 

It  is  said  that  his  first  awakening  to  consciousness  of  ca- 
pacity and  to  anything  like  real  ambition  is  due  to  the  preach- 
ing of  two  ministers  of  the  gospel,  one  of  whom,  James  Wad- 
dell,  was  a  blind  preacher,  and  seems  to  have  been  able  to 
exercise  wonderful  influence  over  great  congregations  by  his 
eloquence.  The  other  was  Samuel  Davies,  an  eminent  Pres- 
byterian minister,  of  whom  Patrick  Henry  said  he  was  the 
greatest  orator  that  he  had  ever  heard.  Under  the  witchery 
of  the  eloquence  of  these  two  men  he  seems  really  to  have 
found  himself.  There  was  that  in  him  which  responded  to 
the  call  for  expression  aroused  in  him  by  the  preaching  of 
these  two  ministers,  and  for  the  first  time  in  his  life  he  formed 
something  like  a  real  resolution. 

He  determined  that  he  would  enter  at  once  upon  the  pre- 
paration for  the  practice  of  law.  It  would  be  interesting  to 
trace  through   Mr.  Henry's  ancestry  on   both  sides  of  the 


336  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA. 

parental  house  the  lines  of  heredity  that  would  account  for  his 
ambition  in  this  respect,  and  largely  for  the  splendid  success 
realized  afterwards  in  his  career.  If  the  accounts  are  true, 
he  was  not  by  any  means  the  first  competent  lawyer  or  ,suc- 
cessful  politician  or  eloquent  speaker  in  his  family.  The  truth 
is  that  up  to  this  time  there  never  had  been  any  appeal  made 
to  the  man's  essential  nature,  and  there  was  no  stir  in  his  life 
until  he  felt  this  call. 

The  stories  concerning  his  preparation  for  admission 
to  the  bar  are  somewhat  confusing,  both  as  to  the  length  of 
time  taken  in  this  preparation  and  as  to  the  way  in  which  he 
was  admitted  to  the  practice  of  law.  One  story  says  that  he 
gave  only  a  very  few  weeks  of  study,  a  month  or  six  weeks,  in 
the  preparation  for  admission ;  another  extends  the  limit  to 
nine  months.  However  this  may  be,  there  can  be  no  doubt  but 
that  it  was  with  some  difficulty  that  he  procured  a  license. 
No  one  knows  precisely  what  conditions  were  exacted  upon 
which  the  license  was  granted.  It  is  said  that  there  were 
four  examiners,  Wythe,  Pendleton,  Peyton  Randolph  and  John 
Randolph.  Wythe  and  Pendleton,  Mr.  Jefferson  says,  at  once 
rejected  his  application.  The  two  Randolphs  were,  by  his 
importunity,  prevailed  upon  to  sign  the  license,  and  having 
obtained  their  signatures,  he  again  applied  to  Pendleton,  and 
after  much  entreaty  and  many  promises  of  future  study,  suc- 
ceeded also  in  obtaining  his  signature.  At  any  rate  he  ob- 
tained his  license  and  began  at  once  to  establish  himself  in  his 
profession.  This  seems  to  have  been  done  much  more 
promptly  and  effectually  than  many  records  allow.  For  mis- 
information and  misunderstanding  of  Mr.  Henry's  career  as 
a  lawyer,  Thomas  Jefferson  is  supposed  to  be  largely  respon- 
sible. Fortunately,  in  more  recent  years  certain  documents 
have  been  brought  to  light  which  prove  that  Mr.  Henry  was 
an  unusually  successful  lawyer  from  the  beginning,  and  that 


PATRICK  HENRY.  337 

many  of  the  impres.?ions  hitherto  had  concerning  his  capac- 
ity and  fitness  for  the  practice  of  law  were  entirely  erroneous. 
Mr.  Henry's  own  fee-book,  containing  a  record  of  the  number 
of  suits  in  which  he  was  employed  for  the  first  three  years 
of  his  professional  career,  has  been  found,  in  which  it  is  indi- 
cated that  in  that  time  he  was  engaged  in  as  many  as  eleven 
hundred  and  eighty-five  law  suits.  Furthermore,  these  docu- 
ments show  that  these  suits  were  in  the  general  practice  of  law, 
and  not  in  the  main  in  criminal  cases,  as  is  commonly  sup- 
posed. It  was  just  this  sort  of  practice  that  required  the  pos- 
session of  certain  qualities  and  attributes  denied  to  Mr.  Henry 
by  the  general  impression.  Mr.  Moses  Coit  Tyler  institutes  a 
comparison  between  the  accounts  of  the  first  several  years  of 
Mr.  Henry's  practice  and  that  of  Mr.  Jefferson,  in  which  it  is 
indicated  very  clearly  that  Mr.  Henry's  practice  for  the  same 
tmie  was  nearly  double  that  of  Mr.  Jefferson.  Instead  of  being 
dependent  for  these  several  years  upon  the  bounty  of  his 
father-in-law,  there  is  a  record  of  his  having  advanced  to  his 
father-in  law  a  considerable  sum  of  money.  At  the  beginning, 
however,  such  was  his  general  reputation  and  his  manner  of 
dress  and  speech  that  it  would  have  taken  a  very  sanguine 
prophet  to  predict  for  him  in  the  practice  of  law  anything  but 
speedy  distress  and  failure. 

His  first  appearance  in  the  courthouse  was  in  the  cele- 
brated suit  known  as  "The  Pardons'  Case."  It  will  be  remem- 
bered that  this  wa,s  a  suit  brought  by  a  minister  of  the  Church 
of  England  to  recover  his  salary.  The  salaries  of  the  clergy 
were  to  be  paid  in  tobacco  at  the  rate  of  sixteen  thousand 
pounds  per  year.  On  account  of  the  great  scarcity  of  tobacco 
there  had  been  a  large  advance  in  its  price.  The  Virginia  As- 
sembly passed  an  act  making  all  debts  payable  in  tobacco  to 
be  paid  in  money  at  the  rate  of  only  twopence  per  pound. 
An  appeal  was  made  to  the  King  concerning  the  legality  of 


338  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA. 

this  enactment,  who  promptly  decided  against  it.  The  clergy- 
men were  thus  clearly  entitled  either  to  the  tobacco  or  to  its 
market  price.  Mr.  Maury,  the  minister  at  Hanover,  brought 
suit  to  recover  his  salary.  There  was  no  question  at  all  as  to 
the  law  in  the  case.  The  King  had  decided  that,  and  the 
counsel  for  the  defendants  had  retired  from  the  case.  There 
iseems  to  have  been,  however,  a  universal  and  earnest  desire 
that  some  remarks  be  offered  upon  the  subject,  and  Patrick 
Henry  was  employed  to  oppose  the  parsons.  It  was  his  first 
appearance  as  a  lawyer  in  public  speech.  At  first  he  was  em- 
barrassed and  awkward  in  manner,  and  slow  and  stammering 
i'l  speech.  But  in  some  marvelous  way  a  strange  transforma- 
tion took  place.  He  found  himself  after  a  few  moments  in 
the  midst  of  a  most  eloquent  and  passionate  utterance.  He 
denounced  the  clergy  in  such  bold  and  scathing  terms  that 
number,s  of  them  rose  up  in  indignation  and  left  the  court- 
hiuse.  He  spoke  after  the  same  fashion  concerning  the  King, 
who  had  supported  the  cause  of  the  parsons,  and  denounced 
him  as  a  tyrant  who  had  forfeited  all  right  to  claim  obedience. 
Lven  when  the  counsel  for  the  plaintiff  charged  that  "the 
gentleman  has  spoken  treason,"  Henry  was  by  no  means 
quelled  or  subdued.  The  truth  is,  he  grew  bolder  and  more 
violent.  The  audience  was  evidently  in  thorough  and  manifest 
sympathy  with  every  extravagant  utterance,  and  when  Patrick 
Henry  had  closed  his  marvelous  tirade  of  eloquence,  the  crowd 
v/as  in  the  wildest  excitement  and  commotion  as  the  jury  re- 
tired to  discuss  the  verdict.  Only  five  minutes  passed  before 
the  jury  returned  with  a  verdict  that  fixed  the  damage  for  the 
plaintiff  at  only  one  penny.  The  verdict  was  received  with 
loud  and  vociferous  applause.  The  will  of  the  King  had  been 
openly  defied,  and  when  court  adjourned  the  young  orator 
was  caught  up  and  carried  out  on  the  shoulders  of  the  ex- 
cited crowd.    This  was  the  beginning  of  his  career  as  a  lawyer, 


PATRICK  HENRY.  339 

and  these  were  the  first  utterances  of  the  great  commoner 
whose  bold  speech  was  to  fire  the  colonial  heart  throughout 
the  land  to  defiance  and  ultimately  to  open  rebellion. 

Patrick  Henry  was  elected  from  Louisa  county  to  the 
House  of  Burgesses  in  1765.  It  wa,s  at  the  time  when  the 
country  was  greatly  stirred  over  the  act  of  the  English  Par- 
liament known  as  the  stamp  act.  England  was  greatly  em- 
barrassed financially,  especially  by  reason  of  the  debt  that 
had  been  accumulated  incident  to  the  war  with  France.  The 
Englishmen  claimed  that  as  this  war  had  been  mainly  in  the 
protection  of  the  interest  of  the  American  colonies,  they 
should  bear  a  part  of  the  expense.  By  all  the  precedents 
hitherto  clearly  understood,  both  in  England  and  America, 
Virginia  could  not  be  taxed  except  with  the  consent  and  au- 
thority of  the  House  of  Burgesses.  The  Englishmen  consid- 
eied  the  conditions  extraordinary,  and  resolved  to  resort  to 
extreme  measures.  After  some  procrastination  and  debate,  a 
measure  was  finally  passed  providing  for  a  stamp  upon  all 
documents  of  a  legal  nature.  This  act  was  received  with  uni- 
versal dissent  and  indignation  on  the  part  of  the  colonists, 
and  it  was  in  the  midst  of  the  excitement  growing  out  of  the 
act  of  the  English  Parliament  that  the  House  of  Burgesses 
met  in  1765. 

However  much  the  matter  may  have  been  discussed  in 
private  and  personal  capacities,  no  one  ventured  to  secure  from 
the  House  of  Burgesses  any  formal  or  official  utterance  on 
the  subject.  Mr.  Henry  waited  until  it  was  within  three  days 
of  the  time  agreed  upon  for  the  adjournment  of  the  House  of 
Burgesses.  He  finally  and  reluctantly  determined  that  he 
himself  would  force  an  expression  of  opinion  from  the  mem- 
bers of  the  House  of  Burgesses,  So  he  prepared  and  pre- 
sented five  resolutions  that  were  seconded  by  Mr.  Johnson. 
Mr.  Henry  was  only  twenty-nine  years  of  age  and  was  alto- 


340  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA. 

gether  unused  to  the  customs  and  proprieties  of  the  House  of 
Burgesses,  and  it  was  not  without  considerable  fear  and  no 
little  awkwardness  that  he  took  up  the  defense  of  the  resolu- 
tions that  he  had  prepared.  We  give  in  full  the  resolutions 
as  prepared  by  Mr.  Henry.  It  is  said  that  they  were  written 
upon  a  fly-leaf  of  a  law  book  called  "Coke  upon  Littleton." 

"Resolved,  That  the  first  adventurers  and  settlers  of  this 
His  Majesty's  colony  and  domain,  brought  with  them  and 
transmitted  to  their  posterity  and  all  others  of  His  Majesty's 
subjects  since  inhabiting  this  His  Majesty's  said  colony,  all 
privileges,  franchises  and  immunities  that  have  at  any  time 
been  here  enjoyed  and  pos,sessed  by  the  people  of  Great 
Britain. 

"Resolved,  That  by  two  royal  charters  granted  by  King 
James  I.,  the  colonists  aforesaid  are  declared  entitled  to  all 
the  privileges,  liberties  and  immunities  of  denisons  and  natu- 
ral born  subjects  to  all  intents  and  purposes  as  if  they  had 
been  abiding  and  born  within  the  realm  of  England. 

"Resolved,  That  the  taxation  of  the  people  by  themselves 
or  by  persons  chosen  by  themselves  to  represent  them,  who 
can  only  know  what  taxes  the  people  are  able  to  bear  and  the 
easiest  mode  of  raising  them,  and  are  equally  affected  by  such 
taxes  themselves,  is  the  distinguishing  characteristic  of  British 
freedom,  and  without  which  the  ancient  constitution  cannot 
exist. 

"Resolved,  That  His  Majesty's  liege  people  of  this  most 
ancient  colony  have  uninterruptedly  enjoyed  the  right  of  be- 
ing thus  governed  by  their  own  Assembly  in  the  article  of 
their  taxes  and  internal  police,  and  that  the  same  hath  never 
been  forfeited  or  in  any  other  way  given  up,  but  hath  been 
constantly  recognized  by  the  King  and  the  people  of  Great 
Britain. 

"Resolved,  That  therefore  the  General  Assembly  of  this 


PATRICK  HENRY.  341 

colony  have  the  sole  riglit  and  power  to  levy  taxes  and  imposi- 
tions uppn  the  inhabitants  of  this  colony;  and  that  every  at- 
tempt to  vest  such  power  in  any  other  person  or  persons  what- 
soever, other  than  the  General  Assembly  aforesaid,  has  a  man- 
ifest tendency  to  de,stroy  British  as  well  as  American  free- 
dom." 

These  resolutions  were  afterwards  found  among  the  papers 
pf  Mr.  Henry,  on  the  back  of  which  there  was  written  by  Mr. 
Henry  the  following  indorsement : 

"The  within  resolutions  passed  the  House  of  Burgesses 
in  ]\Iay,  1765.  That  from  the  first  opposition  to  the  stamp 
act  and  the  scheme  of  taxing  Americans  by  the  British  Par- 
liament, all  colonies  were  through  fear  or  want  lof  opportun- 
ity to  form  an  opposition,  or  upon  influence  from  some  kind 
or  other,  had  remained  silent.  I  had  been  for  the  first  time 
elected  a  burgess  a  few  days  before ;  was  young,  inexperi- 
enced, unacquainted  with  the  forms  of  the  Plouse  and  the 
members  that  composed  it.  Finding  the  men  of  weight  averse 
to  opposition,  and  the  commencement  of  the  tax  at  hand,  and 
that  no  person  was  likely  to  step  forth,  I  determined  to  ven- 
ture, and  alone,  unadvised  and  unassisted,  on  a  blank  leaf  of 
an  old  law  book,  wrote  the  within.  Upon  offering  them  to 
the  House,  violent  debate  ensued,  many  threats  were  uttered 
and  much  abuse  cast  on  me  by  the  party  for  submission.  After 
a  long  and  warm  contest,  the  resolutions  passed  by  a  very 
small  majority,  perhaps  of  one  or  two  only.  The  alarm  spread 
throughout  America  with  astonishing  quickness,  and  the  min- 
isterial parties  were  overwhelmed.  The  great  point  of  resist- 
ance to  British  taxation  was  universally  established  in  the 
colonies.  This  brought  on  the  war  which  finally  separated 
the  two  countries  and  gave  independence  to  ours.  Whether 
this  will  prove  a  blessing  or  a  curse  will  depend  upon  the  use 
our  people  make  of  the  blessing  which  a  gracious  God  hath 


342  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA. 

hestowea  on  us.  If  they  are  wise  they  will  be  great  and  happy ; 
if  they  are  of  a  contrary  character,  they  will  be  miserable. 
Righteousness  alone  can  exalt  them  as  a  nation.  Reader,  who- 
ever thou  art,  remember  this  and  in  thy  sphere  practice  virtue 
thyself  and  encourage  it  in  others." 

Such  men  as  Randolph,  Bland,  Pendleton,  Wythe,  and, 
indeed,  all  the  older  members  and  members  of  weighty  influ- 
ence, presented  a  united  opposition  to  the  resolutions  as  of- 
fered by  Mr.  Henry,  and  especially  to  the  fifth  resolution. 

It  is  said  that  when  the  last  vote  had  been  taken  on  the 
fifth  resolution,  Mr.  Peyton  Randolph,  who  was  at  that  time 
Attorney-General,  was  heard  to  exclaim :  "My  God,  I  would 
have  given  five  hundred  guineas  fpr  a  single  vote !"  This  one 
vote  would  have  evenly  divided  the  House,  and  with  Mr.  Rob- 
ii; son's  vote,  who  was  in  the  chair,  the  last  and  most  vital  of 
these  resolutions  would  have  been  defeated. 

It  was  in  the  course  of  the  speech  which  Mr.  Henry  made 
upon  these  resolutions  that  he  cried  out  in  the  frenzy  of  his 
eloquence,  "Caesar  had  his  Brutus,  Charles  the  First  his  Crom- 
well, and  George  the  Third — "  Before  he  could  finish  the 
sentence  the  Speaker  cried  out,  "Treason !"  and  from  every 
part  of  the  House  the  members  echoed  back,  "Treason !  Trea- 
son !"  Mr.  Plenry  faltered  not  for  an  instant,  but  rising  to  a 
loftier  altitude,  he  finished  his  sentence  with  splendid  empha- 
.sis,  saying,  "may  profit  by  their  example ;  if  this  be  treason, 
make  the  most  of  it." 

Mr.  Henry,  apparently  well  satisfied  with  his  work,  and 
thinking  perhaps  that  it  would  be  better  for  him  to  be  re- 
moved from  the  scenes  of  such  intense  excitement,  left  the 
town  that  evening.  The  next  morning,  when  he  was  quite 
well  out  of  the  way,  the  leaders  of  the  House,  who  had  been 
unable  to  stem  the  tide  of  the  great  orator's  influence  the  day 
before,  undertook  to  undo  at  least  a  part  of  the  work  that  had 


PATRICK  HENRY.  343 

been  done  before,  and  expunged  the  fifth  and  most  important 
of  the  resohitions,  so  that  the  first  four  resolutions  alone  re- 
mained on  the  journal  of  the  House  as  the  final  official  utter- 
ance. But  the  mischief  had  been  done,  the  alarm  had  been 
sounded  and  the  fire  kindled. 

Air.  Tyler  says  most  eloquently  of  this  incident:  "Mean- 
time on  the  wings  of  the  wind  and  on  the  eager  tongues  of 
men  had  been  borne  past  recall,  far  northward  and  far  south- 
ward, the  fiery,  unchastised  words  of  nearly  the  entire  series, 
to  kindle  in  all  the  colonies  a  great  flame  of  dauntless  pur- 
pose, while  Patrick  himself,  perhaps  then  only  half  conscious 
of  the  fateful  work  he  had  just  been  doing,  traveled  onward 
along  the  dusty  highway,  at  once  the  j oiliest,  the  most  popu- 
lar and  the  least  pretentious  man  in  all  Virginia,  certainly  its 
greatest  orator,  possibly  its  greatest  statesman." 

For  nine  3^ears,  from  the  close  of  the  House  of  Burgesses 
in  1765  to  the  fall  of  1774,  Mr,  Henry  remained  in  tolerable  se- 
clusion and  gave  himself  earnestly  and  industriously  to  the 
practice  of  law. 

After  his  return  from  his  first  session  with  the  House  of 
Burgesses,  he  removed  his  residence  to  Louisa  county  and 
lived  on  an  estate  called  "Roundabout,"  which  he  bought  from 
his  father.  However,  in  1768  he  returned  to  Hanover,  and  a 
few  years  afterwards  bought  a  place  called  "Scocchtown," 
which  continued  to  be  his  residence  until,  as  Governor  of  the 
new  State  of  Virginia,  he  made  Williamsburg  his  home. 

There  seems  to  have  been  during  this  long  period  no  es- 
pecial requisitions  made  upon  Mr.  Henry's  oratorical  gifts. 
He  was  a  conspicuous  factor  in  the  numerous  conferences 
that  were  held  by  leading  men  in  the  colony,  but  there  was 
small  division  among  them  touching  the  essential  matters  at 
stake,  so  there  was  little  occasion  for  contention  and  debate. 
He  was  sent  to  every  session  of  the  House  of  Burgesses  dur- 


344  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA. 

ing*  this  period ;  present  at  almost  all  local  committees  and  con- 
ventions ;  was  made  a  member  of  the  fir,st  Committee  of  Cor- 
respondence, and  finally  was  sent  as  a  delegate  to  the  first  Con- 
tinental Congress. 

On  the  24th  of  May,  1774,  the  news  of  the  passage  of  the 
Boston  port  bill  having  come  to  the  ears  of  the  House  of  Bur- 
gesses, then  in  session,  the  following  action  was  taken,  setting 
apart  the  first  day  of  June  as  a  day  of  prayer,  humiliation  and 
fasting : 

"Devoutly  to  implore  the  Divine  interposition  for  averting 
the  heavy  calamities  which  threaten  destruction  to  our  civil 
rights  and  evils  of  civil  war;  to  give  us  one  heart  and  one  mind 
firmly  to  oppose  by  all  just  and  proper  means  every  injury  t3 
American  rights,  and  that  the  minds  of  His  Majesty  and  his 
Parliament  may  be  inspired  from  Above  with  wisdom,  mode- 
ration and  justice  to  remove  from  the  loyal  people  of  America 
all  cause  of  danger  from  a  continued  pursuit  of  measures  preg- 
nant with  their  ruin." 

Lord  Dunmore,  after  considering  the  matter  for  two  days, 
summoned  the  House  of  Burgesses  to  the  Council  Chamber 
and  said  to  them :  "I  have  in  my  hand  a  paper  published  by 
order  of  this  House,  conceived  in  such  terms  as  reflect  highly 
upon  His  Majesty  and  the  Parliament  of  Great  Britain,  which 
makes  it  necessary  for  me  to  dissolve  you,  and  you  are  dis- 
solved accordingly." 

The  following  day  the  members  of  the  House,  thus  sum- 
marily dissolved,  met  at  the  Raleigh  Tavern  and  passed  reso- 
lutions deploring  the  policy  pursued  by  Parliament,  and  re- 
commended the  establishment  of  an  annual  Congress,  com- 
posed of  representatives  from  all  the  colonies,  "to  deliberate  on 
those  general  measures  which  the  united  interests  of  America 
may  from  time  to  time  require." 

A  call  was  also  issued  for  a  convention  of  delegates  from 


Lord   Dunniore. 


PATRICK  HENRY.  345 

the  counties  of  Virginia  to  consider  matters  of  interest  to  the 
colony  and  to  appoint  delegates  to  the  Congress  at  Philadel- 
phia. A  paper  was  passed  by  this  convention  setting  forth 
the  grievances  of  the  colony  and  earnestly  urging  concerted 
action  on  the  part  of  the  colonies.  They  were  careful,  how- 
ever, in  this  paper  to  express  in  strong  language  their  loyalty 
to  King  George  the  Third,  "our  lawful  and  rightful  sovereign," 
pledging  him  with  their  lives  and  fortunes,  support  in  the  legal 
exercise  of  all  his  just  rights  and  prerogatives.  This  conven- 
tion adjourned  on  Saturday,  August  6th,  and  Mr.  Henry  im- 
mediately took  up  his  journey  to  the  meeting  of  the  first  Con- 
tinental Congress.  He  ,stopped  overnight  at  Mt.  Vernon  and 
enjoyed  the  hospitality  and  counsel  of  George  Washington, 
and  next  day  continued  his  journey  to  Philadelphia,  having  as 
his  fellow-travelers  Washington  and  Edmund  Pendleton. 
Quite  a  number  of  the  delegates  to  the  Continental  Congress 
had  already  arrived.  The  account  of  the  times  indicate  great 
interest  on  the  part  of  the  delegates  in  making  the  acquaint- 
ance of  each  other. 

The  convention  was  organized  on  the  5th  day  of  September, 
wnth  Peyton  Randolph,  of  Virginia,  as  president,  and  a  Mr. 
Thompson,  of  Philadelphia,  as  secretary.  Mr.  Henry  was  a 
most  active  factor  in  all  the  work  of  this  convention,  serving 
on  all  of  its  most  prominent  committees,  but  there  seems  to  be 
small  ground  for  the  assertion  that  the  convention  was  at  any 
time  overawed  with  the  majesty  of  his  speech  and  eloquence. 
The  real  facts  concerning  Mr.  Henry's  relation  to  this  conven- 
tion do  not  warrant  the  statement  which  is  made  by  Mr.  Jef- 
ferson many  years  after  the  meeting  of  this  convention,  "that 
the  superior  powers  of  Patrick  Henry  were  manifest  only  in 
debate,  and  that  he  and  Richard  Henry  Lee  took  the  undis- 
puted lead  in  the  Assembly  during  the  first  days  of  the  ses- 
sion while  general  grievances  were  the  topic,  and  that  both  of 


346  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA. 

them  were  completely  thrown  in  the  shade  when  called  down 
from  the  heights  of  declamation  to  that  severer  test  of  intelli- 
gent excellence,  the  details  of  business."  Mr.  Jeffer.son 
throughout  seems  to  have  been  at  special  pains  to  make  the 
impression  that  Mr.  Henry's  ability  consisted  only  and  solely 
in  his  power  of  declamation,  when  the  real  truth  is  that  in  all 
the  different  conventions  in  which  he  met,  and  in  all  the  con- 
ferences held  during  these  exciting  times  his  services  as  a  wise 
and  far-seeing  statesman  were  called  more  into  requisition 
than  the  use  pf  his  gifts  as  a  speaker  and  orator.  The  fact  that 
in  all  the  committees  into  whose  hands  were  committed  mat- 
ters of  most  practical  importance,  ]\Ir.  Henry  was  a  member, 
is  a  very  clear  indication  of  the  esteem  in  which  he  wa,s  held 
by  those  bodies. 

On  Monday,  the  20th  of  March,  1775,  the  second  Revolu- 
tionary Convention  of  Virginia  assembled  in  old  St.  John's 
Church,  Richmond,  Va.  It  was  perhaps  at  this  convention 
that  Mr.  Henry's  eloquence  reached  its  loftiest  plane.  It 
was  his  .speech  made  on  a  resolution  recommending  the  imme- 
diate raising  of  a  military  force,  setting  forth  the  fact  that  such 
a  force  would  render  it  unnecessary  for  the  mother  country  to 
keep  any  standing  army,  and  further  setting  forth  the  fact  that 
such  a  force  seemed  to  be  peculiarly  necessary  at  that  junc- 
ture for  the  protection  and  defense  of  the  country,  and  in  order 
to  secure  inestimable  rights  and  liberties  from  the  further  vio- 
lence with  which  they  were  threatened ;  and  finally,  that  the 
colony  be  put  immediately  into  a  posture  of  defense,  and 
that  a  committee  be  appointed  to  prepare  a  plan  for  arming 
and  disciplining  such  a  number  of  men  as  might  be  sufficient 
for  that  purpose.  There  was  really  nothing  startlingly  new  m 
the  general  import  of  these  resolutions,  for  not  only  in  Vir- 
ginia, but  throughiut  well-nigh  all  the  colonies,  just  such  mili- 
tary steps  had  been  taken.    It  has  been  said  that  these  resolu- 


PATRICK  HENRY.  347 

tions,  so  far  from  being-  premature,  were  rather  tardy.  It  is 
altogether  probable  that  the  only  point  of  disagreement  was 
the  urgency  and  precipitancy  of  Mr,  Henry's  resolution.  The 
conservative  Virginian  was  unwilling  to  give  up  the  hope  that 
there  might  be  some  final  and  peaceful  adjustment  of  diffi- 
culties made  with  England,  and  the  startling  thing  in  these 
resolutions  and  in  Mr.  Henry's  speech  made  in  their  support 
was  that  he  had  unmistakably  given  up  all  hope  of  any  peace- 
ful adjustment,  declaring  essentially  that  the  war  had  already 
begun  and  the  exigencies  called  no  longer  for  debate  or  peti- 
tion or  protest,  but  for  immediate  belligerent  action. 

It  will  be  quite  impo.ssible  to  give  here  anything  like  an 
adequate  description  of  this  superlative  utterance  of  the  great 
commoner.  It  i,s  seriously  to  be  doubted  whether  on  any  oc- 
casion a  sublimer  height  was  ever  attained  by  any  orator. 

The  resolution,  in  spite  of  the  opposition  of  wise  and  good 
men,  was  passed,  and  the  committee  called  for  was  appointed, 
and  Mr.  Henry  was  made  chairman.  Associated  with  him 
were  Richard  Henry  Lee,  Nicholas,  Harrison,  Riddick,  Wash- 
ington, Stevens,  Lewis,  Christian,  Pendleton,  Jefferson  and 
Zane. 

It  took  the  committee  only  one  day  to  prepare  its  plan  for 

enlisting,  arming  and  disciplining  the  militia,  and  after  laying 

over  for  one  day  for  some  alteration,  the  report  of  the  com- 

.  mittee  was  unanimously  adopted.    The  convention  adjourned 

on  the  27th  of  March. 

About  one  month  after  the  meeting  of  this  convention,  on 
the  night  of  the  20th  of  April,  1775,  a  detachment  of  marines 
frpm  an  English  schooner,  the  Magdalen,  visited  the  maga- 
zine in  Williamsburg,  which  was  the  public  storehouse  for  gun- 
powder and  arms,  and  carried  away  fifteen  barrels  of  gun- 
powder and  stored  them  on  their  own  vessel.  The  news  of 
this  depredation  spread  with  alarming  rapidity  throughout  the 


34^  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA. 

colony,  and  four  da3^s  afterward  a  company  at  Fredericksburg 
notified  their  colonel,  George  Washington,  that  they  were 
ready  with  many  other  bodies  of  men  to  appear  in  support  of 
the  honor  of  Virginia,  and  at  his  command  would  set  out  for 
Williamsburg.  From  other  counties  there  came  similar  mes- 
sages to  Washington.  It  had  been  determined  that  the  29th 
should  be  the  day  for  the  march  upon  Williamsburg.  On  that 
day  one  hundred  and  two  gentlemen,  representing  the  fourteen 
companies  that  had  offered  their  services,  met  for  a  conference, 
and  after  considering  a  letter  from  Peyton  Randolph  assuring 
them  that  the  affair  of  the  gunpowder  would  be  satisfactorily 
arranged,  came  to  the  conclusion  that  they  would  proceed  no 
further  at  that  time,  but  pledged  themselves,  however,  that 
they  hold  themselves  "in  readiness  to  reassemble  and  by  force 
of  arms  to  defend  the  law,  the  liberty  and  the  rights  of  this 
or  any  other  sister  colony  from  unjust  and  wicked  invasion." 

Mr.  Henry,  who  had  been  a  close  observer  of  these  exciting 
events  from  his  home  in  Hanover  county,  was  greatly  disap- 
pointed that  more  aggressive  steps  were  not  taken.  It  seemed 
to  him  wise  that  an  immediate  blow  should  be  struck,  and 
that  the  people  be  reassured  of  their  own  strength  by  some 
overt  act  of  war.  He  resolved  that  he  himself  would  take  the 
field  and  lead  in  the  delivering  of  such  a  blow.  He  requested, 
therefore,  that  the  companies  of  his  own  county  meet  him  in 
arms  at  Newcastle,  on  the  2d  of  Alay,  on  business  of  the  high- 
est importance  to  American  libertj^  With  this  company  he 
also  asked  the  presence  of  the  county  committee.  When  the 
meeting  was  held  he  strongly  urged  that  immediate  action 
should  be  taken  to  march  on  the  capital  and  either  to  recover 
the  gunpowder  or  procure  its  equivalent.  The  officer  in  im- 
mediate command  resigned,  and  Mr.  Henry  was  put  in  charge 
of  the  proposed  expedition.  Man}^  vsase  and  conservative,  and 
even  patriotic,  men  were  greatly  distressed  at  this  precipitate 


PATRICK  HENRY.  349 

procedure,  and  sent  urgent  messages  asking-  Mr.  Henry  that 
he  return  home.  On  the  other  hand,  so  greatly  stirred  were 
the  people  that  five  thousand  men  from  various  quarters 
sprang-  to  arms  and  sought  to  become  members  of  the  expedi- 
tion marching-  on  Williamsburg. 

At  "VVilliamsburg-  g-reat  consternation  w^as  felt,  and  the  Gov- 
ernor's family  was  sent  out  of  the  city  to  a  place  of  safety. 
An  appeal  Vx^as  made  to  the  commander  of  the  English  ship 
for  immediate  assistance  against  an  invasion  that  threatened 
Lord  Dunmore  with  an  attack  at  daybreak  at  his  palace  at  Wil- 
liamsburg-. Before  the  final  issue  was  made,  however,  Gov- 
e'.nor  Dunmore  concluded  that  something  had  better  be  done 
to  propitiate  the  irate  Henry.  He  accordingly  sent  a  mes- 
senger to  Mr.  Henry  bearing-  a  sum  of  money  amounting-  to 
£330,  as  compensation  for  the  gunpowder  which  had  been 
taken  from  the  magazine.  The  object  for  which  the  expedi- 
tion had  gone  out  having  been  accomplished,  there  was  noth- 
ing to  do  but  that  the  forces  should  separate  and  return  to 
their  respective  homes. 

On  the  i8th  of  May  Patrick  Henry  took  his  place  among 
the  delegates  to  the  second  Continental  Congress,  and  re- 
mained in  attendance  from  the  first  session  of  the  convention 
until  its  final  adjournment  on  August  ist.  In  this  convention, 
as  in  the  former  one,  Mr.  Plenry  seems  to  have  been  most  ac- 
tive in  all  the  practical  work  of  the  body.  In  the  accounts  of 
this  convention  there  is  again  to  be  discovered  a  wide  discrep- 
ancy between  the  representations  made  by  Mr.  Jefferson,  as  he 
recalled  them  forty  years  afterward,  and  the  real  facts  of  the 
case.  With  a  very  remarkable  insistence,  Mr.  Jefferson  per- 
sisted in  the  view  that  as  a  practical  man  Mr.  Henry  was  of 
very  little  account  in  the  convention,  for  he  again  says  "that 
at  the  beginning  of  this  convention,  when  matters  in  a  general 
way  were  being  considered,  Mr.  Henry  was  very  conspicuous. 


350  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA. 

but  as  soon  as  they  came  to  specific  matters,  to  sober  reasion- 
iag-  and  solid  argument,  he  had  the  good  sense  to  perceive  that 
his  declamation,  however  excellent  in  its  proper  place,  had  no 
weight  at  all  in  such  an  assembly  as  that  of  cool-headed,  re- 
specting, judicial  men.  He  ceased,  therefore,  in  a  great  neces- 
sity to  take  part  in  the  business."  Here,  again,  the  records 
of  the  convention  indicate  that  on  every  important  committee 
Mr.  Henry  had  a  place,  even  on  the  committees  that  were 
to  address  themselves  to  matters  most  practical  and  business- 
like. While  he  was  a  member  of  this  convention  he  was  ap- 
pointed as  commander-in-chief  of  the  forces  of  Virginia  by  a 
convention  in  session  at  Richmond,  Va.,  and  Washington  was 
appointed  commander-in-chief  of  the  forces  of  the  united 
colonies.  Mr.  Henry  was  commissioned  as  colonel  of  the  First 
Regiment  of  Virginia  and  commander-in-chief  of  all  the  forces 
to  be  raised  for  the  protection  and  defense  of  the  colony. 

It  was  in  this  capacity  as  commander-in-chief  of  the  forces 
of  Virginia  that  Mr.  Henry  met  with  the  only  real  humiliation 
of  his  long  career.  For  reasons  that  have  never  been  ^hown 
to  have  been  inspired  by  any  specific  thing  in  Mr.  Henry's 
military  career,  it  was  concluded  that  he  was  not  altogether  a 
capable  commander.  Colonel  William  Woodford  was  his  sub- 
ordinate and  the  commander  of  the  Second  Regiment.  When 
an  expedition  was  to  be  sent  against  Lord  Dunmore  at  Nor- 
folk, the  military  committee  put  Colonel  Woodford  in  com- 
mand. Mr.  Henry  was  exceedingly  chagrined  at  this  unmis- 
takable .slight,  and  when,  afterwards,  Colonel  Woodford  began 
to  address  all  communications  direct  to  the  Committee  of 
Safety  rather  than  through  his  nominal  commander-in-chief, 
he  was  further  humiliated;  and  still  more  abject  his  humilia- 
ticn  when  it  was  decided  to  raise  a  larger  body  of  troops  in 
Virginia,  necessitating  the  office  of  a  brigadier-general,  a  com- 
mission was  made  out  to  Mr.  Henry  as  only  colonel  of  the 


PATRICK  HENRY.  351 

first  Virginia  battalion,  whereas  by  the  regular  order  of  pro- 
motion he  shiould  have  been  commissioned  as  brigadier-general. 
Immediately  Mr.  Henry  resigned  his  commission  and  retired 
from  military  life. 

However  patriotic  and  sound  may  have  been  the  judgment 
of  the  authorities  touching  Mr.  Henry's  military  capacity,  it 
seems  only  fair  to  say  that  that  judgment  was  reached  by  an 
all  too  insufficient  trial  of  Mr.  Henry  in  the  field.  He  was 
allowed  no  opportunity  to  demonstrate  his  capacity,  whether 
small  or  large. 

At  the  close  of  his  brief  military  experience  he  returned  to 
his  home  in  Hanover,  in  March,  1776.  The  year  before  his 
wife  had  died,  leaving  six  motherless  children,  and  Mr.  Henry 
found  great  satisfaction  in  being  left  alone  with  them,  if  pnly 
for  a  brief  season.  In  May  he  was  called  from  his  seclusion 
to  meet  with  the  great  convention  at  Williamsburg.  Matters 
were  hastening  toward  a  crisis.  It  was  felt  on  every  hand  that 
the  next  step  must  be  a  formal  dissolution  of  all  relations  with 
England.  For  the  first  time  there  seems  to  have  been  hesi- 
tancy on  the  part  of  Mr.  Henry.  He  believed  well  enough 
that  separation  was  inevitable,  but  he  felt  that  before  the 
last  step  was  taken  other  preliminary  matters  should  be  as- 
sured and  arranged.  He  wanted  to  be  sure  of  the  posture  of 
France  and  Spain  and  of  the  united  action  of  all  the  colonies. 
He  was,  however,  soon  won  over  to  the  advocacy  of  imme- 
diate action.  Perhaps  this  was  due  to  a  letter  he  had  received 
from  Mr.  Charles  Lee,  who  importuned  him  to  use  his  great 
influence  in  securing  immediate  action  looking  toward  final 
separation.  On  the  15th  day  of  May,  after  a  prolonged  debate, 
in  which  Mr.  Henry  made  a  most  powerful  plea  for  the  pro- 
posed action,  the  convention  unanimously  passed  the  follow- 
ing resolution : 

"That  the  delegates  appointed  to  represent  this  colony  in 


352  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA. 

general  Congress  be  instructed  to  propose  to  that  respectable 
body  to  declare  the  united  colonies  free  and  independent 
States,  absolved  from  allegiance  to,  or  dependence  upon,  the 
ciown  or  Parliament  of  Great  Britain;  and  that  they  give  the 
assent  of  the  colony  to  such  declaration  and  to  whatever  meas- 
ures may  be  thought  proper  and  necessary  by  the  Congress 
for  the  forming  foreign  alliances  and  a  confederation  of  the 
colonies  at  such  time  and  in  the  manner  as  shall  to  them  seem 
best ;  provided  that  the  power  of  forming  government  for,  and 
the  regulations  of  the  internal  concerns  of,  each  colony  be  left 
to  the  respective  colonial  Legislatures." 

On  the  I2th  of  June  the  committee  reported  the  Declaration 
of  Rights,  expressed  in  sixteen  articles,  and  which  the  conven- 
tion adopted  unanimously.  This  document  set  forth  the  great 
fundamental  rights  that  were  to  be  "the  basis  and  foundation 
of  government  in  Virginia."  Mr.  George  Mason  was  the  au- 
thor of  the  first  fourteen  articles  and  Mr.  Henry  the  author  of 
the  last  two — the  last  of  which  was  most  notable  because  it 
was  the  first  formal  and  official  assertion  and  sanction  of  the 
doctrine  of  religious  liberty  that  had  ever  been  given  in  Vir- 
ginia. 

As  ..soon  as  the  convention  had  committed  the  State  to  sep- 
aration, action  was  taken  on  the  appointment  of  a  committee 
"to  prepare  a  declaration  of  rights  and  such  a  plan  of  gov- 
ernment as  will  be  most  likely  to  maintain  peace  and  order  in 
the  colony  and  secure  substantial  and  equal  liberty  to  the  peo- 
ple." On  June  the  29th  the  plan  reported,  through  Mr.  Archi- 
bald Cary,  was  adopted.  There  was  an  unmistakable  conflict 
between  the  democratic  and  aristocratic  elements  of  the  con- 
vention. The  former  came  off  victorious.  The  last  clause  of 
the  Constitution  provided  that  a  Governor  should  be  elected 
by  the  convention  to  hold  office  until  the  next  General  As- 
sembly should  adjourn.     When  the  ballot  was  taken  it  was 


PATRICK  HENRY.  353 

found  that  Mr.  Henry  had  received  sixty  votes,  Thomas  Nelson 
forty-five  votes,  and  John  Page  one  vote.  Mr.  Henry  was  de- 
clared accordingly  elected  first  Governor  of  the  Common- 
wealth of  Virginia. 

Mr.  Henry  entered  upon  the  duties  of  his  office  on  the 
5th  of  July,  1776.  His  salary  was  fixed  at  £1,000  per  year. 
His  elevation  to  this  high  office  gave  cordial  and  universal 
satisfaction.  From  all  quarters  of  the  State,  and  even  from 
other  colonies,  came  congratulations  and  good  wishes.  While 
the  Governor's  palace,  lately  vacated  by  Lord  Dunmore,  was 
being  renovated  and  prepared  for  his  reception,  Mr.  Henry 
returned  for  a  brief  season  to  his  home  in  Hanover.  On  his 
recovery  from  several  weeks'  illness,  he  removed  his  family 
to  Williamsburg  and  took  up  his  residence  in  the  Governor's 
palace.  It  is  said  that,  greatly  to  the  disappointment  of  his 
enemies  among  the  aristocrats,  he  conducted  himself  as  Gov- 
ernor with  great  dignity,  meeting  all  the  requirements  and  pro- 
prieties of  the  great  office  with  consummate  ease  and  in  most 
excellent  taste. 

The  scope  pf  this  chapter  will  not  permit  any  detailed  ac- 
count of  the  remaining  years  of  his  life.  He  was  elected  Gov- 
ernor three  times  successively,  and  doubtless  would  have  been 
chosen  for  the  fourth  time  if  he  had  not  insisted  that  he  was 
by  the  Constitution  made  ineligible.  During  the  second  term 
as  Governor  he  was  married  to  Miss  Dorothea  Dandridge,  a 
granddaughter  of  Alexander  Spotswood.  Miss  Dandridge  was 
by  many  years  the  junior  of  her  distinguished  husband,  but 
they  lived  together  in  great  happiness,  she  proving  to  be  for 
him  during  the  remainder  of  his  years  a  most  true  and  loving 
helpmeet.  In  1784  he  was  again  elected  Governor.  When  he 
removed  his  family  from  "Leatherwood,"  in  November,  1784, 
he  took  up  his  residence,  not  in  Williamsburg,  but  at  a  place 
called  Salisbury,  located  on  the  other  side  of  the  James  River. 


354  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA. 

In  1786  he  declined  another  election  as  Governor,  and  retired 
to  his  home,  and  undertook  b}^  the  practice  of  his  profession 
to  build  up  his  fortune,  which  had  become  impaired. 

Nor  can  there  be  allowed  any  minute  account  of  the  charge 
that  he  aspired  to  be  dictator,  or  of  the  suspicion  he  rested 
under  by  reason  of  his  opposition  to  the  adoption  of  the  Fed- 
eral Constitution  by  the  Virginia  Convention.  There  is  no 
proof  that  Mr.  Henry  ever  heard  pf  any  scheme  to  make  him 
dictator,  or  that  he  ever  dreamed  of  such  a  preposterous  thing. 
It  is  not  unlikely,  as  pointed  out  by  Mr.  Tyler,  that  whatever 
use  there  was  made  of  the  word  dictator  was  simply  in  the 
confiding  to  the  Governor  enlarged  powers  in  exigencies  de- 
manding unusual  and  prompt  action.  His  opposition  to  the 
adoption  of  the  Federal  Constitution  was  due,  not  to  any 
change  or  inconsistency  in  his  views,  but  simply  to  his  strong 
insistence  that  certain  rights  be  more  clearly  defined,  and  not 
left  for  recognition  by  implication  only.  No  one  believed  more 
ardently  than  he  in  a  strong  and  fixed  federation  of  the  States, 
but  he  sought  a  union  based  upon  a  clear  definition  of  rights. 
For  all  the  qualities  that  go  to  make  up  a  great  statesman  and 
orator,  perhaps  in  no  other  part  of  his  life  did  Mr.  Henry  ever 
make  so  superb  a  demonstration  of  power  and  capacity  as  in 
this  great  convention. 

And  there  can  be  permitted  only  a  brief  word  concerning 
the  part  he  played  in  securing  the  amendments  to  the  Consti- 
tution, a  task  to  which  he  addressed  all  his  great  powers  most 
assiduously.  He  had  acquiesced  in  the  adoption  of  the  Con- 
stitution VN^ith  the  expressed  hope  that  when  the  defects 
he  had  tried  to  point  out  were  realized  they  would  be  re- 
moved by  amendment.  Through  his  influence,  after  a  long 
struggle,  the  Legislature  of  Virginia  asked  Congress  to  call 
another  convention  to  which  the  Constitution  should  be  re- 
submitted.     This   Congress  refused  to   do,  but  suffered  ten 


PATRICK  HENRY.  355 

amendments   to   the    Gonstitution,    in   which    was    embodied 
nearly  all  of  the  changes  desired  by  Virginia. 

When  Mr.  Henry  was  fifty-eight  years  old,  and  being  pos- 
sessed of  a  competency,  he  resolved  that  the  remainder  of  his 
years  should  be  spent  in  peaceful  retirement.  In  1795  he  set- 
tled in  Charlotte  county,  on  a  country  place  called  "Red  Hill," 
and  it  was  from  this  place  he  was  carried  to  his  grave.  In  1796 
the  Assembly  of  Virginia  again  elected  him  Governor,  but  he 
declined  the  honor  of  being  Governor  of  Virginia  for  the  sixth 
time.  Strong  effort  was  made  to  induce  him  to  come  out  of 
his  retirement.  He  declined  the  appointment  offered  by  Mr. 
Adams  "to  be  envoy  extraordinary  and  minister  plenipoten- 
tiary to  the  French  republic,"  with  full  powers  to  effect  a 
treaty  with  that  republic.  He  did,  however,  yield  to  the  im- 
portunity of  Mr.  Washington  and  others,  and  allowed  himself, 
after  a  most  picturesque  campaign,  to  be  again  elected  to  the 
General  Assembly  of  Virginia  in  1799.  He  was  never  per- 
mitted to  take  his  seat.  Earlv  in  June  of  that  year  he  was 
seized  with  a  fatal  illness  called  then  intussusception,  now  gen- 
erally know  as  appendicitis.  His  end  was  quite  in  keeping 
with  the  life  he  had  led,  simple  and  dignified,  without  confu- 
sion or  fear.  When  told  of  his  critical  condition,  and  holding 
in  his  hand  the  desperate  do.se  which  was  the  last  resort  of 
his  beloved  physician,  Dr.  Cabell,  he  bowed  his  head  in  prayer 
for  his  family,  his  country,  and  his  own  soul,  and  then  quietly 
swallowed  the  fatal  prescription.  He  lingered  only  a  little 
while,  comforting  and  reassuring  his  relatives  in  their  dis- 
tress, and  expressing  his  thanksgiving  for  having  been  per- 
mitted to  serve  his  country  in  so  many  ways.  He  passed  away, 
bearing  especial  witness  to  the  support  of  the  Christian  re- 
ligion, on  the  6th  of  June,  1799. 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 

THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

If  Patrick  Henry  was  the  prophet  of  the  Revolution, 
Thomas  Jefferson  may  be  considered  as  the  philosopher  of 
the  Revolution.  On  the  very  day  when  Henry  was  making 
his  famous  speech  in  the  House  of  Burgesses,  in  1765,  in  op- 
position to  the  stamp  tax,  the  day  upon  which  was  really  in- 
augurated the  beginning  of  ostensible  opposition  to  British 
government,  Jefferson,  then  a  student  at  Williamsburg,  was 
standing  against  the  door-post  of  the  old  capitol  and  heard  the 
burning  eloquence  of  Patrick  Henry  when  he  shouted,  "Caesar 
had  his  Brutus,  Charles  the  First  his  Cromwell,  and  George 
the  Third — may  profit  by  their  example."  After  the  speech 
the  young  student  walked  the  length  of  the  Duke  of  Glou- 
cester Street,  from  the  capitol  back  to  the  college,  a  distance 
of  about  a  mile,  pondering  over  the  great  things  that  Henry 
had  spoken,  and  giving  his  full  consent  that  the  contention 
of  Henry  was  right  and  that  the  people  must  have  a  real  part 
in  their  government.  From  that  day  Thomas  Jefferson,  the 
especial  friend  of  Governor  Fauquier,  the  Governor  whom  he 
was  pleased  to  style  as  the  best  Governor  Virginia  ever  had, 
went  to  his  home,  having  seen  a  great  light  and  come  to  an  in- 
vincible conviction  that  all  taxation  without  representation 
was  oppression  and  tyranny.  As  a  boy  he  had  engraved  on 
his  seal  "Resistance  to  tyrants  is  obedience  to  God,"  and  the 
utterance  of  Patrick  Henry  burned  this  great  principle  more 
deeply  into  his  heart. 

356 


THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  357 

It  was  on  May  30,  1765,  when  the  famous  resolutions  of- 
fered and  advocated  by  Patrick  Henry  were  passed  by  the 
House  of  Burg-esses.  Jefferson  was  just  past  the  age  of 
twenty-two,  having  been  born  on  April  13,  1743,  at  Shadwell, 
near  Charlottesville,  Va. 

Who  was  this  young  man,  destined  to  be  so  conspicuous 
in  the  history  of  the  United  States? 

So  large  was  his  contribution  to  the  foundations  of  our 
national  government  that  his  name  will  be  forever  known 
wherever  republican  forms  of  government  exist  and  wherever 
political  equality  is  the  co-ordinating  principle  of  government. 

He  was  the  son  of  a  plain  Virginia  surveyor  named  Peter 
Jefferson.  His  mother,  however,  was  Jane  Randolph,  who 
belonged  to  the  famous  Randolph  family  of  Virginia,  and 
which  had  in  its  blood  a  thoroughly  good  strain  of  the  Eng- 
lish gentry,  so  that  Thomas  Jefferson's  scorn  of  such  things 
was  entirely  gratuitous,  if  not  stultifying. 

His  education  began,  when  he  was  five  years  of  age,  under 
a  private  tutor.  He  afterwards  attended  a  private  school, 
and  at  seventeen  he  was  prepared  to  enter  college.  He  was 
a  slender  young  man,  tall,  thin  and  rawboned,  with  reddish 
hair  and  grayish  hazel  eyes.  He  was  not  then  regarded  as 
being  handsome,  but  his  face  showed  great  intelligence.  He 
grew  to  be  a  man  of  six  feet  two  inches  in  stature.  He  was 
fond  of  shooting,  and  was  regarded  as  one  of  the  best  horse- 
men in  Virginia.  Like  Henry,  he  was  devoted  to  music,  and 
when  he  rode  on  horseback  to  William  and  Mary  College  in 
1760,  he  carried  with  him  his  beloved  fiddle.  During  his  first 
year  at  college  he  did  not  give  himself  very  industriously  to 
his  studies,  but  spent  most  of  his  time  in  the  enjoyment  of  the 
various  social  functions  and  festivities  incident  to  the  gay 
capital  life  at  Williamsburg.  Whenever  there  was  a  ball  in 
the  Apollo  Room  at  the  old  Raleigh  Tavern,  the  young  stu- 


358  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA. 

dent  from  Albemane  was  very  much  in  evidence.  After  his 
first  year  at  William  and  Mary,  however,  he  seems  to  have 
settled  down  tp  honest  and  steady  work,  oftentimes  studying 
as  many  as  fifteen  hours  a  day.  He  was  graduated  from  the 
college  with  honor. 

He  began  his  study  of  law  under  George  Wythe,  who  be- 
came the  first  professor  of  law  at  William  and  I\Iary  College. 
Mr.  Wythe  was  a  prominent  figure  in  all  the  discussions  and 
agitations  incident  t|0  the  Revolutionary  struggle,  and  in 
laying  the  constitutional  foundations  of  the  Commonwealth  of 
Virginia  and  of  the  united  colonies. 

Young  Jefferson  seems  to  have  been  on  quite  intimate 
terms  with  many  of  the  professors.  He  was  frequently  the 
guest  of  Professor  Small  and  Mr.  Wythe  in  their  homes,  and 
was  often  the  companion  of  Governor  Fauquier,  a  gay  and 
accomplished  gentleman. 

Not  far  from  Williamsburg  there  lived  a  rich  lawyer 
named  John  Wayles,  and  with  him  a  widowed  daughter,  Mrs. 
Martha  Skelton.  She  was  very  fond  of  music,  and  in  this 
particular  she  and  young  Jefferson  were  kindred  spirits,  and 
the  young  man  spent  many  pleasant  evenings  at  her  home, 
'The  Forest."  On  the  ist  of  June,  1772,  they  were  married, 
and  took  up  immediately  their  journey  to  Jefferson's  beau- 
tiful estate,  "Monticello,"  about  two  miles  from  Charlottes- 
ville. The  weather  was  grievously  bad,  and  before  they 
reached  the  end  of  their  journey  they  were  obliged  to  leave 
the  carriage  and  proceed  on  horseback.  They  were  so  be- 
lated in  their  arrival  at  "Monticello''  that  they  found  the 
fires  all  out  and  the  servants  were  away  from  home.  The 
dark  and  the  cold  and  the  unpropitious  welcome  at  home 
made  a  dreary  prospect  for  the  young  bridal  couple.  But 
they  were  too  happy  to  be  disturbed  by  such  externalities, 
and  only  joked  and  laughed  at  their  hard  and  unusual  expe- 


THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  359 

rience.  They  went  into  a  pavilion  in  the  yardand  Jefferson 
found  in  a  book-case  some  biscuits  and  wine,  which  proved 
to  be  the  only  refreshments  that  the  groom  could  offer  to  his 
bride  after  their  long  and  fatiguing  journey. 

When  the  House  of  Burgesses  passed  the  resolution  of 
1769,  he  was  one  of  those  who  signed  the  agreement  not  to 
import  goods  from  England.  He  was  also  a  member  of  the 
House  of  Burgesses  when,  in  1773,  it  established  a  Committee 
of  Correspondence  between  Virginia  and  the  other  colonies. 
It  is  thought  by  some  that  the  resolutions  calling  for  such  a 
committee  were  drawn  up  by  Jefferson,  though  they  were  of- 
fered in  the  House  by  his  kinsman,  Dabney  Carr.  Of  this 
committee  Jefferson  was  a  member.  He  was  also  a  member 
of  the  House  of  Burgesses  in  1774,  and  v/as  one  of  those  who 
voted  for  the  resolution  appointing  a  day  of  fasting  and 
prayer  in  view  of  the  oppressive  measures  which  England  had 
inaugurated  against  the  city  of  Boston.  After  the  dissolution 
of  the  Assembly  by  Dunmore,  Jefferson  met  the  following 
day  with  the  discontented  members  who  assembled  in  the 
Raleigh  Tavern,  and  called  for  a  general  Congress  for  the 
colonies,  and  requested  a  convention  of  the  freeholders  of 
Virginia  to  consider  the  state  of  the  colony.  Jefferson  was 
made  a  member  of  this  convention,  representing  the  people 
of  Albemarle.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Continental  Con- 
gress that  met  in  1775.  At  this  time  he  was  a  young  man  of 
just  thirty-two  years  of  age,  but  had  already  become  widely 
known  as  an  eloquent  writer  and  a  radical  Revolutionist. 

In  the  meantime  there  was  great  excitement  in  Virginia, 
produced  by  the  passage  of  resolutions  offered  by  Mr.  Henry 
for  the  arming  of  the  Colony  of  Virginia,  and  Virginia  was 
in  open  and  flagrant  rebellion  against  Lord  Dunmore.  The 
action  of  the  convention  that  met  at  Williamsburg  in  1776, 
in  declaring  that  the  colonies  should  be  free  and  independent 


36o  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA. 

States;  in  proclaiming  its  famous  Declaration  of  Rights,  and 
in  the  adoption  of  a  Constitution  for  the  future  government 
lof  Virginia,  and  finally  in  the  election  of  Patrick  Henry  as 
Cvovernor,  was  received  with  universal  satisfaction.  When 
the  first  resolutions  offered  by  Pendleton  were  adopted,  the 
people  were  wild  in  their  enthusiasm,  and  amid  the  ringing 
of  bells  and  the  thunder  of  artillery  the  action  defying  the 
royal  power  of  England  was  indorsed  with  most  vociferous 
unanimity.  The  resolutions  were  read  to  the  army  in  the 
presence  of  the  general,  the  Committee  of  Safety,  the  mem- 
bers of  the  convention  and  a  large  concourse  of  people.  The 
soldiers  shared  the  universal  delight  and  satisfaction.  They 
were  feasted  tlmt  night  at  Waller's  Grove,  on  the  outskirts 
of  the  town.  The  city  was  illuminated  with  many  bonfires. 
It  was  hard  to  realize  that  old  Williamsburg,  where  so  many 
Governors  had  lived  in  royal  style,  was  never  again  to  be  the 
home  of  a  representative  of  the  English  government.  No 
more  Governor's  balls  were  to  be  held  in  the  old  palace,  and 
no  more  toasts  were  to  be  drunk  at  the  Governor's  banquets. 
Monarchy  was  dead  in  the  Old  Dominion.  The  Cavalier 
spirit  which  upheld  Charles  the  First  and  his  wicked  son, 
Charles  the  Second  had  lost  all  respect  for  the  English  crown, 
and  a  true  spirit  of  democracy  seized  hold  of  the  people  of 
Virginia,  who  were  now  ready  to  defy  the  British  lion  and 
to  set  up  a  republic  in  which  all  the  people  would  be  equally 
free  and  independent.  All  honor  is  due  to  old  Virginia  for 
having  laid  the  basis  of  republican  government  in  America 
by  the  adoption  of  Pendleton's  resolutions  favoring  an  im- 
mediate Declaration  of  Independence. 

In  harmony  with  these  famous  resolutions,  and  in  obedi- 
ence to  the  instructions  therein  contained,  Richard  Henry  Lee, 
of  Virginia,  on  the  7th  of  June,  1776,  moved  in  the  Continental 
Congress,  in  session  in  Philadelphia,  that  "these  united  colo- 


THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  361 

nies  are,  and  of  right  ought  to  be,  free  and  independent." 
Lee  would  doubtless  have  been  made  chairman  of  the  com- 
mittee to  draft  a  Declaration  of  Independence  but  for  the  fact 
that  he  was  immediately  called  home  on  account  of  sickness 
in  his  family.  In  his  absence  ]\Ir.  Jefferson,  whose  facility 
for  writing  had  become  thoroughly  well  known  to  Congress, 
was,  by  vote,  named  as  chairman  of  a  committee  over  such 
men  as  John  Adams,  Benjamin  Franklin,  Roger  Sherman  and 
Robert  W.  Livingston.  To  him,  as  chairman,  was  allotted  the 
task  of  drafting  that  immortal  instrument  which  remains  in 
the  history  pi  the  world  as  the  most  revolutionary  political 
paper  ever  written. 

On  the  4th  day  of  July,  1776,  the  instrument,  with  little 
change,  as  prepared  by  Jefferson,  was  unanimously  adopted, 
and  to  it  were  affixed  the  signatures  of  all  the  members  of 
Congress  then  present  save  one.  The  principle  set  forth  in 
that  document  declared  for  a  government  for  and  by  the  peo- 
ple, and  its  full  and  accurate  expression  indicates  that  Jeffer- 
son was  far  ahead  of  his  day,  for  it  is  only  at  the  dawn  of 
the  twentieth  century  that  we  are  beginning  to  appreciate  the 
great  and  universal  truths  emphasized  by  Thomas  Jefferson. 
Jefferson  retired  from  Congress  in  1776,  and  entered  the  Vir- 
ginia Legislature  with  the  hope  of  revising  and  modifying 
her  laws  so  that  they  might  be  brought  into  accord  with  real 
republican  government.  Believing  in  freedom  of  thought, 
he  did  not  see  how  there  could  be  an  established  church,  or 
how  a  law  could  exist  whereby  preachers  of  the  other  faiths 
could  be  imprisoned.  Jefferson  had  in  mind  the  preachers  of 
the  Baptist  faith  especially,  who  had  been  arrested  in  Spot- 
sylvania, Caroline,  Chesterfield,  Culpeper,  Orange  and  Mid" 
diesex  counties.  He  remembered  how,  in  Culpeper,  a  con- 
spiracy was  formed  to  poison  one  preacher  in  jail,  and  how 
three  were  tried  in  Spotsylvania  county  for  preaching  the  gos- 


362  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA. 

pel  of  Christ  contrary  to  the  law.  Patrick  Henry,  who  was 
present  at  that  trial,  was  said  to  have  exclaimed :  "May  it 
please  Your  Worships,  what  did  I  hear  read?  Did  I  hear  an 
expression  that  these  men  whom  Your  Worships  are  about  to 
try  are  charged  with  preaching  the  gospel  of  the  Son  of  God?'' 

While  these  unfortunate  persecutions  existed  in  Virginia, 
something  like  thirty  preachers,  all  told,  were  imprisoned  on 
the  ground  that  they  violated  the  peace  of  the  community. 
In  addition  to  the  Baptists  there  were  many  other  dissenters, 
Presbyterians,  Quakers  and  iClethodists.  The  members  of 
these  denominations  were  strongly  republican  and  very  vig- 
orous in  the  overthrow  of  English  rule  in  America.  Mr. 
Hawkes,  in  his  history  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church, 
tells  us  that  the  Baptist  preachers  advised  the  young  men  of 
their  churches  to  enlist  in  the  Continental  army  and  in  the 
militia  of  the  State. 

These  independent  religious  bodies  petitioned  earnestly 
the  Legislature  to  disestablish  the  Church  of  England.  Be- 
sides the  support  of  those  agreeing  with  them  in  religious 
forms,  many  of  the  most  prominent  political  leaders  of  the 
State  and  many  devout  members  even  of  the  established 
church  co-operated  with  them  in  this  great  movement. 
Among  the  political  leaders  who  advocated  the  claim  of  the 
independent  bodies  were  Jefferson  and  Madison.  In  1776 
Jefferson  made  a  serious  effort  towards  disestablishment.  In 
this  he  was  not  altogether  successful,  and  only  succeeded  in 
securing  a  bill  which  allowed  all  religious  denominations  to 
own  their  own  houses  of  worship  and  that  their  ministers 
might  preach  without  molestation.  It  was  not  until  1785  that 
the  dissenting  ministers  were  permitted  to  discharge  funeral 
rites  or  marriage  ceremonies.  In  that  year  Jefferson's  famous 
bill  for  religious  liberty,  introduced  and  championed  by  James 
Madison,  passed  the  Virginia  Legislature  and  established  per- 
fect religious  freedom  throughout  the  Commonwealth. 


THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  363 

Jefferson  maintained  that  the  entail  and  primogeniture 
systems  were  incompatible  with  democratic  institutions,  and 
should  be  abolished.  By  this  system  it  was  provided  that  the 
eldest  son  should  inherit  the  landed  family  estate,  and  that 
the  estate  could  never  be  sold,  and  could  only  pass  from 
father  to  son  and  thus  be  forever  retained  in  the  family.  This 
seemed  to  Jefferson  to  be  the  perpetuation  of  a  pure  aristoc- 
racy, which  he  believed  should  not  be  allowed  to  exist  under 
democratic  forms  of  government.  In  the  advocacy  of  these 
views  he  met  with  very  strong  and  stubborn  opposition. 
Among  those  who  were  bitterly  opposed  to  the  indorsement 
of  his  views  were  many  wise  and  eminent  statesmen,  among 
them  Edmund  Pendleton.  Finally,  however,  the  views  en- 
tertained by  Jefferson  prevailed,  and  a  bill  was  passed  abol- 
ishing the  entail  and  primogeniture  systems,  and  by  this  act 
the  last  remnant  of  English  aristocracy  was  destroyed  in  the 
Commonwealth  of  Virginia, 

Mr.  Pendleton,  who  seems  to  have  been  the  ablest  and 
most  violent  of  the  opposers  to  Jefferson's  radical  views,  after- 
wards became  chief  judge  of  Virginia,  being  president  judge 
of  its  Court  of  Appeals.  When,  years  afterward,  the  question 
of  the  right  of  the  church  to  certain  lands  became  a  matter 
to  be  adjudicated,  he  was  prepared  and  ready  to  give  his 
opinion  in  favor  of  the  church.  These  lands  were  the  pro' 
perty  of  the  State.  In  1802  a  law  was  passed  ordering  the 
glebes  to  be  sold  and  the  money  to  be  used  for  the  care  lof 
the  poor.  The  Episcopal  Church,  which  had  been  the  estab- 
lished church,  took  the  matter  into  the  court,  and  it  came  be- 
fore the  Court  of  Appeals,  of  which,  as  we  have  said,  Mr. 
Pendleton  was  president  judge.  It  is  said  that  Mr.  Pendle- 
ton had  prepared  an  opinion  favoring  the  church  and  declar- 
ing the  law  alienating  the  lands  from  the  Episcopal  Church 
as  being  unconstitutional,  and  ordered  that  they  be  restored 


364  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA. 

to  the  church.  The  day  set  for  the  delivery  of  this  declara- 
tion was  the  25th  of  October,  1803,  but  only  a  few  days  be- 
fore, Pendleton  was  taken  sick,  and  died  on  the  very  day  that 
he  was  to  have  delivered  his  opinion.  The  new  president 
judge  of  the  Court  of  Appeals  held  a  different  opinion  from 
Mr.  Pendleton,  and  the  glebe  lands  were  sold  and  never  re- 
turned to  the  Episcopal  Church. 

In  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution  of  Virginia  and  its 
Bill  of  Rights,  Jefferson  had  very  little  to  do.  At  the  time 
that  Pendleton's  resolutions  were  carried  providing  for  the 
Constitution  of  the  State  of  Virginia,  Jefferson  was  a  member 
of  the  Continental  Congress,  but  he  did  not  forget  to  take 
interest  in  the  affairs  of  his  State,  and  he  sent  to  Williams- 
burg a  copy  of  the  Constitution  and  the  preamble.  His  copy 
arrived  too  late,  as  the  committee  had  already  acted  on  the 
Declaration  of  Rights  on  the  12th  of  June  and  the  Constitu- 
tion on  the  29th  of  June.  George  Mason,  of  Fairfax  county, 
in  accordajice  with  Pendleton's  resolutions,  had  been  placed 
upon  the  committee,  and  to  his  pen  we  are  indebted  for  the 
Declaration  of  Rights,  often  called  the  Bill  of  Rights,  and 
also  for  our  first  Constitution. 

The  Declaration  of  Rights  is  the  groundwork  of  the  gov- 
ernment of  Virginia.  It  declares  that  all  men  are  created 
equally  free  and  independent ;  that  all  power  is  derived  from 
the  people ;  that  government  is  instituted  for  the  common 
benefit,  protection  and  security  of  the  people ;  that  no  man  or 
set  of  men  is  entitled  to  exclusive  or  separate  privileges :  that 
all  men  having  common  interest  in  the  community  should 
have  the  right  to  vote,  and  that  the  freedom  of  the  press 
should  never  be  restricted.  It  further  states  "that  no  free 
government  or  a  blessing  of  liberty  can  be  preserved  to  any 
people  but  by  firm  adherence  to  justice,  moderation,  temper" 
ance,  frugality  and  virtue,"  and  "that  religion  can  be  directed 


THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  365 

only  by  reason  and  conviction,  not  by  force  or  violence,  and, 
therefore,  that  all  men  are  equally  entitled  to  the  free  exer- 
cise of  religion  according  to  the  dictates  of  conscience,  and 
that  it  is  the  mutual  duty  of  all  to  practice  Christian  forbear- 
ance, love  and  charity  towards  each  other." 

After  some  debate,  the  Declaration  of  Rights  v^^as  adopted 
en  the  1 2th  of  June,  1776,  and  on  the  29th  day  of  the  same 
month  the  Constitution  of  Virginia  was  approved.  Thus  Vir- 
ginia became  a  republic,  and  if  we  can  believe  the  accounts 
that  have  been  handed  down,  George  Mason  is  entitled  to  the 
credit  of  having  written  both  of  these  documents,  of  which 
every  Virginian  is  so  justly  proud. 

George  Mason  seems,  likewise,  to  have  designed  the  seal 
of  Virginia,  which  represents  "Virtue,  the  genius  of  the  Com- 
monwealth, dressed  like  an  Amazon,  resting  on  a  spear  with 
one  hand  and  holding  a  sword  with  the  other,  and  treading 
Tyranny,  represented  by  a  man  prostrate,  a  crown  fallen  from 
his  head,  a  broken  chain  in  his  left  hand  and  a  scourge  in  his 
right."  Above  the  head  of  Virtue  is  placed  the  word  "Vir- 
ginia," and  underneath  the  figure  the  words,  "Sic  semper 
tyrannis." 

The  preamble  to  Jefferson's  proposed  Constitution,  how- 
ever, was  so  good  that  it  was  taken  by  Mason  and  made  as 
the  preamble  to  the  Virginia  Constitution.  Hence  the  pre- 
amble of  our  first  Constitution  is  so  similar  in  thought  to  the 
Declaration  of  Independence,  which  was  adopted  five  days 
after  Virginia's  first  Constitution.  Jefferson  represents  the 
transition  from  Colonial  Virginia  to  the  Commonwealth  of 
Virginia.  He  was  a  democrat  of  democrats.  He  was  opposed 
to  all  forms  of  nobility  and  to  all  privileged  classes.  He  was 
opposed  to  monarchical  government  and  believed  in  universal 
suffrage.  He  was  way  ahead  of  his  time,  and  was  even  anx' 
ious  for  the  abolition  of  slavery  and  proposed  a  plan  about 


366  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA. 

emancipation.  His  idea  was  to  state  a  certain  year  and  day, 
after  which  all  negroes  born  of  slave  parents  should  be  made 
free  and  should  be  carried  out  of  the  State.  In  other  words, 
he  favored  what  we  have  recently  heard  discussed  so  much 
in  the  papers,  the  deportation  of  the  negroes  from  the  State. 

We  should  not  forget  to  remember  Jefferson's  educational 
plan.  He  believed  that  all  men  should  have  a  voice  in  the 
government,  but  feared  that  they  might  give  bad  rather  than 
good  government  unless  they  were  educated.  He  therefore 
proposed  the  establishment  of  primary  and  high  schools 
throughout  the  State,  with  a  State  university  as  a  capstone. 
The  Legislature  adopted  his  plans,  but  they  were  never  fully 
put  into  operation,  and  his  scheme  for  the  establishment  of 
a  university  was  not  accomplished  until  1819.  He  was  then 
an  old  man  and  had  retired  from  public  life.  After  various 
exertions  he  saw  the  university  established  at  Charlottesville 
on  broad  and  liberal  plans.  He  became  its  first  rector,  and 
brought  to  this  country  some  of  the  greatest  scholars  of 
Europe  to  instruct  the  young  Virginians.  He  planned  well 
the  institution  which  was  the  darling  of  his  old  age,  for  it  has 
not  only  educated  many  of  the  leaders  of  our  State,  but  has 
likewise  wielded  a  great  influence  over  the  whole  South. 

From  June,  1779,  to  June,  1781,  Jefferson  was  Governor  of 
Virginia.  At  this  time  the  State  was  invaded  by  the  British 
troops,  and  Jefferson  and  the  Legislature  were  forced  to  flee 
from  Richmond  to  Charlottesville,  from  which  place  they  were 
driven  by  Tarleton.  Jefferson  lacked  the  troops  and  the 
money  with  which  to  defend  Virginia  properly,  though  he 
did  all  that  lay  in  his  power. 

It  was  at  this  time  that  Thomas  Nelson  so  nobly  came 
to  the  assistance  of  Virginia.  Nelson  had  been  a  member  of 
the  convention  of  1776,  and  he  it  was  who  offered  the  resolu- 
tions that  were  drawn  by  Pendleton  asking  that  other  dele- 
gates of  Congress  declare  the  colonies  free  and  independent. 


THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  367 

Though  Nelson  loved  England,  having  been  educated 
there,  he  had  decided  that  there  was  but  one  course  for  the 
colonies  to  pursue.  He  said :  "Having  weighed  the  argument 
on  both  sides,  I  am  clearly  of  the  opinion  that  we  must,  as 
we  value  the  liberty  of  America  or  even  her  existence,  with- 
out a  moment's  delay  declare  our  independence."  He  was 
again  made  a  member  of  the  Continental  Congress,  and  was 
present  on  the  4th  of  July  when  the  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence was  adopted.  As  one  of  the  representatives  of  Vir- 
ginia he  signed  that  famous  document,  together  with  Jeffer- 
son, George  Wythe,  Richard  Henry  Lee,  Benjamin  Harrison, 
Jr.,  Francis  Lightfoot  Lee,  and  Carter  Braxton. 

In  1777,  when  it  was  reported  that  the  British  fleet  was 
about  to  enter  the  Chesapeake  Bay,  Thomas  Nelson  was 
elected  commander-in-chief  of  the  Virginia  troops.  A  little 
later  Congress  called  for  volunteers,  and  Nelson,  in  response, 
raised  a  company  at  his  own  expense  and  marched  north  to 
help  the  Continental  Army.  In  this  expedition  he  spent  a 
great  deal  of  money,  for  which  he  was  never  repaid.  When 
he  reached  the  North,  General  William  Howe,  the  English 
commander,  had  evacuated  Philadelphia,  so  Nelson's  troops 
were  disbanded. 

In  1779  the  English  prepared  to  invade  Virginia.  There" 
upon  the  Virginia  Assembly  put  the  State  troops  under  the 
direction  of  Nelson,  and  tried  to  raise  two  million  of  dollars 
with  which  to  defend  the  State.  The  wealthy  men  had  so 
little  faith  in  the  State  government  that  they  refused  to  lend 
to  it,  but  General  Nelson  came  to  the  rescue  and  subscribed 
largel)^  of  his  own  fortune,  whereupon  many  persons  decided, 
on  Nelson's  security,  to  let  Virginia  have  the  money. 

In  the  fall  of  1780  Benedict  Arnold,  the  traitor,  sailed  up 
the  James  River  and  tried  to  land  near  Williamsburg,  but  was 
driven  off  by  the  militia  under  General  Nelson.     Arnold  then 


368  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA. 

went  up  the  river  to  Westover,  where  he  landed  some  eight 
hundred  men  and  marched  toward  Richmond.  Nelson,  in 
the  meantime,  had  gone  up  the  James,  but  reached  Westover 
too  late  to  cut  off  Arnold,  who  had  proceeded  to  Richmond 
and  entered  the  little  city.  Governor  Jefferson  and  the  Leg- 
islature having  abandoned  the  city,  it  was  plundered  by 
Arnold's  troops,  and  many  of  the  houses  were  burned.  As 
Arnold  returned  down  the  river  he  pillaged  the  country,  but 
for  fear  of  Nelson's  troops  he  retired  to  Portsmouth.  Here 
the  people  of  Virginia  planned  to  capture  the  traitor. 

A  force  of  two  thousand  English  was  sent  to  Virginia 
under  General  Phillips,  who  occupied  Petersburg,  to  prevent 
Arnold's  being  taken  prisoner.  To  meet  these  English  forces, 
Washington  dispatched  from  his  army,  then  in  New  York, 
the  young  French  Marquis  de  Lafayette,  with  twelve  hun- 
dred men.  He  was  joined  by  about  three  thousand  of  the 
State  militia  under  General  Nelson,  and  attacked  the  English 
at  Petersburg.  Phillips  refused  to  give  battle  in  the  field, 
but  remained  shut  up  in  Petersburg,  a  part  of  which  was 
cannonaded  at  the  command  of  Lafayette,  Phillips  was  very 
ill  of  fever,  and  while  the  siege  was  in  progress  he  died.  It 
is  said  that  he  exclaimed  on  his  death-bed,  as  he  heard  the 
roar  of  cannon,  "My  God !  it  is  cruel.  They  will  not  let  me 
die  in  peace." 

Arnold,  who  had  joined  forces  with  Phillips,  row  took 
command  of  the  English,  and  he  sent  an  officer  with  a  flag 
and  a  letter  to  Lafayette,  but  the  gallant  Frenchman  lefused 
to  have  any  intercourse  whatever  with  the  traitor,  and  re- 
turned the  letter  unread.  Shortly  after  this  Cotnwallis  ar- 
rived in  Petersburg,  and  probably  saved  Arnold  from  being 
captured.  Cornwallis,  being  a  high-minded  man,  was  dis- 
gusted with  the  traitor  Arnold,  and  no  sooner  did  he  reach 
Virginia  than  he  gave  Arnold  a  leave  of  absence  to  return  to 


THOMAS  JEFFERSOJM.  369 

New  York  City.      Thus  departed  the  traitor  from  Virginia 
soil. 

Since  Cornwallis  had  in  Petersburg  nearly  eight  thou- 
sand men,  Lafayette  did  not  feel  able  to  resist  him,  and,  there- 
fore, he  retired  to  the  vicinity  of  Richmond  to  await  the  rein- 
forcements which  Washington  was  sending  under  General 
Wayne.  When  the  British  commander  heard  that  he  was 
opposed  b}^  Lafayette,  it  was  reported  that  he  said,  "The  boy 
cannot  escape  me."  But,  though  only  twenty-three  years  of 
age,  Lafayette  was  wise  beyond  his  years,  and  in  addition  he 
had  the  advice  of  General  Nelson.  Cornwallis  advanced  from 
Petersburg  and  Lafayette  retired  by  way  of  Fredericksburg 
into  Culpeper  county.  A  division  of  troops  under  Colonel 
Tarleton  was  sent  to  Charlottesville  to  capture  the  Virginia 
Legislature  and  Governor  Jefferson.  In  this  Tarleton  failed, 
Jefferson  making  his  escape  on  horseback  from  "Monticello," 
and  the  Legislature  going  across  the  mountains  into  the 
Valley.  Soon  after  this  Jefferson  retired  from  the  governor- 
ship. 

In  concluding  we  must  say  a  word  about  Jefferson's  work 
for  the  United  States.  He  had  done  a  great  work  for  his 
State,  but  he  did  much,  likewise,  for  the  country  at  large. 

He  served  in  Congress  from  1783  to  1784;  was  Minister 
to  France  from  1784  to  1789,  and  was  a  member  of  \\'ash- 
ington's  cabinet,  being  the  first  Secretary  of  State.  In  the 
latter  position  he  showed  himself  a  believer  in  States'  rights, 
claiming  that  Congress  should  not  legislate  about  matters 
Vv^hich  were  not  expressly  provided  for  in  the  Constitution 
of  the  United  States.  These  views  mark  him  as  the  founder 
of  what  we  now  call  the  Democratic  party. 

After  serving  one  term  as  Vice-President,  he  was  elected 
President  of  the  United  States,  and  presided  over  the  affairs 
of  the  nation  for  eight  years.     During  his  administration  the 


370  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA. 

incident  known  as  the  Louisiana  Purchase  transpired.  This 
vast  domain  had  been  deeded  by  Spain  to  France.  Napoleon 
wanted  very  much  to  re  establish  the  influence  of  France  in 
T^merica,  but  found  his  hands  quite  full  with  affairs  nearer 
home.  He  was  just  then  greatly  concerned  and  preoccupied 
in  the  reorganization  of  Europe.  The  next  best  thing,  in 
order  to  secure  the  favor  of  America,  was  to  dispose  of  the 
Louisiana  domain  to  the  government  of  the  United  States. 
This  he  finally  did  for  a  consideration  of  fifteen  millions  of 
dollars.  Out  of  this  domain  has  been  carved  the  present 
States  of  Louisiana,  Arkansas,  Missouri,  Kansas,  Nebraska, 
Iowa,  Montana,  Wyoming  and  Dakota.  The  treaty  con- 
nected with  this  purchase  was  made  in  May,  1803.  Aside 
from  the  vast  increase  of  territory,  other  very  great  advan- 
tages accrued  from  this  purchase.  Had  this  not  been  done, 
this  country  would  have  been  shut  in  to  one  side  of  the  Mis- 
sissippi River,  her  Gulf  ports  would  have  shut  or  opened  at 
the  caprice  of  a  foreign  power,  and  immunity  from  danger- 
ous foes  would  have  been  indefinitely  postponed.  The  far- 
seeing  wisdom  which  brought  about  this  result  will  in  itself 
forever  indicate  the  high  quality  of  statesmanship  with  which 
this  great  Virginian  discharged  the  duties  of  his  great  office. 
On  his  retirement  from  the  presidency  in  1809,  Jefferson 
went  to  spend  the  remaining  days  of  his  life  at  "Monticello." 
Here  he  did  not  remain  inactive,  but  took  a  deep  interest  in 
the  affairs  of  Virginia  and  of  the  United  States.  He  was 
consulted  for  nearly  a  quarter  of  a  century  by  the  leaders  of 
the  Democratic  party,  and  was  spoken  of  as  the  "Sage  of 
Monticello."  He  devoted  much  thought  to  education,  espe- 
cially to  the  university.  To  his  home  came  travelers,  tour- 
ists and  friends  from  all  parts  of  the  country.  His  house- 
keeper often  had  to  provide  fifty  beds  for  his  guests.  Through 
his  generosity  and  hospitality  his  fortune  of  some  two  hun- 


THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  371 

dred  thousand  dollars  slipped  away,  and  at  the  time  of  his 
death  nothing-  was  left  save  his  estate  at  "Monticello,"  and 
that  was  loaded  with  debt.  He  died  on  the  4th  of  July,  1826, 
just  fifty  years  after  the  Declaration  of  Independence  had 
been  signed. 

A  review  of  Mr.  Jefferson's  life  and  work  will  show  him 
to  have  been  identified  as  leader  or  strong  advocate  of  the 
following  great  governmental  policies  and  principles :  repub- 
lican government  and  sovereignty  of  the  people,  opposition  to 
privileged  lorders  of  nobilit}'  and  the  entail  system,  univer- 
sal education  and  local  circulating  libraries,  separation  of 
church  and  state,  freedom  of  thought  and  speech,  local  self- 
government,  economy  of  government  and  small  puWic  debt, 
policy  of  peace,  political  equality  and  universal  suffrage,  strict 
construction  of  the  Constitution  and  sovereignty  of  the  State, 
a  well-trained  militia  and  small  standing  army,  metallic  cur- 
rency of  either  gold  and  silver  as  standard  and  no  paper  legal 
tender,  opposition  to  bounties  and  monopolies,  emancipation 
and  deportation  of  slaves,  expansion  of  the  United  States  so 
as  to  include  Louisiana,  Florida,  Cuba  and  Canada,  a  judiciary 
beyond  the  control  of  legislative  and  executive  departments 
pf  government,  a  small  navy,  opposition  to  nepotism,  rota- 
tion in  office,  and  opposition  to  all  secession  movements  North 
or  South.  All  of  these  found  clear  interpretation  and  able 
advocacy  by  the  great  mind  and  strong  arm  of  the  great 
philosopher  and  statesman. 

Jefferson  desired  to  be  remembered  for  three  things :  as 
the  "Author  of  the  Declaration  of  American  Independence; 
of  the  Statute  of  Virginia  for  Religious  Freedom,  and  the 
Father  of  the  University  of  Virginia,"  and  these  three  things 
place  him  in  the  front  rank  of  our  great  men. 


CHAPTER  XXV. 

GEORGE  WASHINGTON,  THE  SWORD  OF  THE 
REVOLUTION. 

If  it  be  true  that  in  the  evolution  of  empires  there  must  be 
a  prophet,  who  shall  catch  its  far  away  vision ;  a  soldier,  whose 
sword  shall  carve  out  and  define  its  boundaries ;  and  a  philoso- 
pher, who  shall  give  it  structural  unity,  then  in  the  founding 
of  the  American  empire  Virginia  furnished  a  man  for  the 
discharge  of  each  of  these  high  functions — Patrick  Henry,  its 
frenzied  prophet;  Thomas  Jefferson,  its  far-seeing  philosopher; 
and  George  Washington,  its  incomparable  captain.  Not,  in- 
deed, that  these  stood  alone ;  others  in  Virginia  and  in  all  the 
colonies  shared  their  dreams,  their  high  planning  and  their 
valorous  struggles.  Of  such  Virginians  as  George  Rogers 
Clark,  Patrick  Henry,  Thomas  Jefferson,  George  Mason  and 
Edmund  Pendleton  these  chapters  have  made  mention  more 
or  less  full.  It  is  the  purpose  of  this  concluding  chapter 
to  relate  the  story  of  George  Washington,  not  unfittingly 
styled  "The  Sword  of  the  Revolution." 

The  Northern  Neck  of  Virginia,  composed  of  Westmore- 
land, Northumberland,  King  George,  Richmond  and  Lan- 
caster counties,  has  a  history  of  which  it  is  justly  proud ; 
but  Westmoreland  county  can  boast  that  she  gave  to  Virginia 
and  to  our  country  George  Washington,  the  most  conspicuous 
figure  in  all  our  national  life.  Washington  was  born  on  the 
22d  day  of  February,  1732.  His  birthplace  was  on  Bridges 
Creek,  not  far  from  the  Potomac  River.    The  house  contained 

372 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON.  373 

[our  rooms  on  the  ground  floor,  an  attic  with  a  sloping  roof 
and  a  large  brick  chimney.  Three  years  after  his  birth  tlie 
family  removed  to  Stafford  county,  just  across  the  river 
from  Fredericksburg.  Here  his  father,  Augustine  Washing- 
ton, died  when  Washington  was  only  eleven  years  old,  and 
he  was  left  to  the  care  of  his  mother,  whose  maiden  name  was 
Mary  Ball.  She  was  a  woman  of  strong  will,  religious  and 
stern,  but  kind.  She  was  devoted  to  George,  and  as  he  grew 
fo  be  a  man,  she  was  accustomed  to  say,  "George  has  been  a 
good  boy,  and  he  will  surely  do  his  duty."  She  taught  her 
son  the  principles  of  truth  and  honor. 

Washington  had  poor  school  advantages,  but  while  in 
Stafford  he  was  taught  reading  and  writing  by  the  sexton  of 
the  parish,  a  man  named  Hobby.  Later  he  was  sent  to  live 
with  his  half-brother,  Augustine  Washington,  in  Westmore- 
land county,  in  order  that  he  might  receive  instruction  from 
a  Mr,  Williams,  who  conducted  a  fairly  good  school.  Here 
Washington  learned  some  mathematics  and  land  surveying. 
Among  the  boys  Washington  was  leader  both  in  his  studies 
and  upon  the  playground.  He  used  to  divide  his  companions 
into  armies,  one  of  which  he  always  commanded  himself.  He 
excelled  his  playmates  in  running,  jumping  and  wrestling. 

The  two  older  brothers,  Lawrence  and  Augustine  Wash- 
ington, had  been  educated  in  England,  where  many  Virginia 
boys  were  sent  to  school,  but  on  account  of  the  death  of  his 
father,  George  was  deprived  of  this  privilege.  In  1747,  when 
he  was  not  quite  sixteen,  he  left  school  and  went  to  visit  his 
brother  Lawrence,  who  resided  at  Mount  Vernon,  near  Alex- 
andria. Here  he  met  Lord  Fairfax,  an  old  bachelor,  who  had 
come  to  Virginia  to  take  possession  of  his  large  grant  of  land 
across  the  Blue  Ridge  Mountains.  It  was  the  purpose  of  Lord 
Fairfax  to  send  settlers  into  that  region,  but  before  doing  so 
it  was  necessary  that  the  country  should  be  surveyed.     For 


374  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA. 

this  work  he  found  young  Washington  in  every  way  capable. 

Though  so  young,  Washington  was  robust,  nearly  six  feet 
tall  and  well  formed,  with  long  arms  and  big  hands  and  feet. 
He  had  light  brown  hair  and  grayish  blue  eyes,  and  was  a 
splendid  type  of  manly  boy.  In  character,  too,  he  was  to  be 
admired,  for  he  was  honorable,  persevering  in  whatever  he 
undertook  and  wise  far  beyond  his  years. 

In  1748,  accompanied  by  George  Fairfax,  a  kinsman  of 
Lord  Fairfax,  Washington  crossed  over  the  Blue  Ridge  into 
what  is  now  Frederick  county,  Va.,  where  he  began  his  work. 
For  three  years  he  remained  as  a  surveyor.  During  this  time 
he  suffered  many  hardships.  He  often  slept  for  weeks  at  a 
time  on  the  ground  before  the  camp  fire,  and  often  for  days 
at  a  time  his  clothes  were  wet.  For  his  work  Washington 
received  a  doubloon  a  day  (about  eight  dollars  in  our  money). 
Lord  Fairfax  was  so  pleased  with  the  account  of  the  Shenan- 
doah Valley  that  he  moved  across  the  Blue  Ridge  and  built  a 
home  there,  which  he  called  Greenway  Court.  Here  Wash- 
ington was  frequentl}'  a  visitor,  and  whenever  he  had  a  chance 
he  would  read  in  the  library  of  Lord  Fairfax.  On  the  recom- 
mendation of  his  lordship,  Washington  was  appointed  by  the 
president  of  William  and  Mary  College  a  surveyor  of  Culpeper 
county,  which  then  extended  across  the  mountains.  He  was 
kept  constantly  at  work,  for  at  this  time  many  Germans  were 
coming  into  the  northern  valley,  and  a  surveyor  was  needed 
to  cut  off  for  each  man  his  tract  of  land. 

Though  merely  a  boy,  Washington  showed  himself  a  man 
of  ability,  as  he  was  able  to  deal  with  the  Indians,  who  were 
constantly  wandering  through  the  Valley,  without  producing 
conflict  or  trouble.  In  1751  Washington  was  called  to  Mount 
Vernon  to  the  bedside  of  his  brother  Lawrence,  with  whom 
he  remained  for  more  than  a  year,  caring  for  him  in  his  illness. 
On  the  death  of  Lawrence,  George  Washington  was  left  as, 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON.  375 

guardian  for  his  little  daughter,  and  was  by  the  will  made  heir 
to  the  property,  in  the  event  of  the  death  of  this  child.  Shortly 
afterwards,  on  her  death,  Washington  heired  that  splendid 
estate,  Mount  Vernon,  which  is  to-day  the  Mecca  of  American 
patriots.  At  this  time  Washington  was  only  twenty  years  old, 
but  he  was  made  a  major  in  the  Virginia  militia,  and  a  year 
later,  by  the  House  of  Burgesses  of  Virginia,  it  was  decided 
to  make  four  military  districts,  and  young  Washington  was 
put  in  command  of  the  Northern  Division  of  Virginia.  At 
this  time  the  French  were  pushing  into  the  territory  of  the 
upper  Ohio  River.  From  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi  to  the 
Great  Lakes,  the  French  were  placing  iron  posts  to  mark  their 
boundary  and  were  really  claiming  all  of  the  country  west  of 
the  Alleghany  Alountains,  The  Virginians  claimed  all  of  these 
western  lands  above  the  34th  degree  of  latitude,  as  far  west  as 
the  Mississippi  River.  Moreover,  as  we  have  previously 
learned,  the  Ohio  Company  had  been  organized  to  form  set- 
tlements in  the  regions  around  the  headwaters  of  the  Ohio 
River,  and  to  this  company  had  been  granted  five  hundred 
thousand  acres  of  land.  With  the  approach  of  the  French  into 
this  territory  Governor  Dinwiddle,  who  had  come  to  Virginia 
in  1752,  determined  that  an  effort  should  be  made  to  retain 
these  lands  for  the  Virginians.  A  commission  was  therefore 
determined  upon,  and  for  this  perilous  undertaking  George 
Washington,  just  twenty-one  years  of  age,  was  selected.  In  a 
freezing  spell  of  weather,  in  November,  1753,  he  began  his 
mission,  with  a  small  party.  He  penetrated  the  woods,  reach- 
ing an  Indian  village  called  Logstown,  where  he  was  directed 
to  the  French  fort  on  Lake  Erie,  commanded  by  the  Chevalier 
de  St.  Pierre,  a  French  courtier  and  noble,  and  courteous  man, 
but  the  chevalier,  though  very  courteous,  was,  after  all,  a 
soldier,  and  he  knew  how  to  obey  orders  from  his  government. 
When  Washington  announced  to  him  that  his  mission  was  to 


376  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA. 

request  the  French  to  withdraw  from  the  Ohio  River  and  all 
that  region,  Chevalier  de  St.  Pierre  asked  Colonel  Washing- 
ton to  convey  to  Governor  Dinwiddle  the  following  reply :  "I 
am  here  by  the  orders  of  my  general,  and  I  entreat  you,  sir, 
not  to  doubt  one  moment  but  that  I  am  determined  to  conform 
myself  to  them  with  all  of  the  exactness  and  resolution  that 
can  be  expected  from  the  best  officer." 

Thus  the  French  refused  to  vacate  the  territory,  and  in 
the  dead  of  winter  Washington  started  back  on  a  perilous 
journey.  The  rivers  were  full  of  ice  and  the  canoes  could  not 
be  used  in  many  places  in  the  streams.  They  had  to  be  carried 
on  the  backs  of  the  guides.  Such  horses  as  they  had  were  worn 
out  and  stumbled  in  the  road.  At  last  Washington,  in  com- 
pany with  only  one  person,  Christopher  Gist,  an  explorer  in 
the  territory  west  of  the  Allegheny,  set  out  alone  on  foot, 
knapsacks  on  their  shoulders.  The  ground  was  covered  with 
snow  and  the  journey  was  made  at  a  great  risk.  Near  where 
Pittsburg  now  stands  an  Indian  guide  tried  to  shoot  him,  and 
as  he  tried  to  cross  the  Allegheny  River  on  a  raft,  he  fell  into 
the  freezing  water  filled  with  ice,  and  with  difficulty  kept 
himself  from  drowning.  He  reached  a  small  island  on  the 
river  and  spent  the  night  in  a  half  frozen  condition.  The 
next  day  he  found  a  settlement,  secured  a  horse,  and  in  sixteen 
days  was  back  in  Williamsburg.  He  made  his  report  to  Gov- 
ernor Dinwiddle,  and  at  once  the  Virginia  House  of  Burgesses 
determined,  if  possible,  to  drive  the  French  out  of  the  north- 
ern territory.  A  regiment  of  Virginians  was  raised  and  placed 
under  the  command  of  Colonel  Fry,  with  Washington  as  lieu- 
tenant-colonel. The  troops  were  slow  in  assembling,  so 
finally  Washington  set  out  from  Alexandria  with  only  two 
companies  of  troops  without  Colonel  Fry  in  command. 

When  he  reached  Great  Meadows,  near  the  Monongahela 
River,   he  had  an   encounter   with   the   French,  whose   com- 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON.  377 

mander,  Jumonville,  was  killed.  Here  Washington  built  a 
rude  fortification,  which  was  called  Port  Necessity,  and  in 
this  he  placed  his  three  hundred  and  fifty  Virginians.  The 
French  and  Indians  made  a  vigorous  attack  and  were  repulsed, 
but  when  Washington  perceived  the  numbers  and  realized 
that  ammunition  was  failing,  he  decided  to  surrender  the  fort, 
with  the  provision  that  his  troops,  carrying  their  arms,  might 
quietly  return  home.  This  was  a  bitter  disappointment,  but 
Washington  did  well  to  get  away  on  these  terms,  and  tlie  Vir- 
ginia House  of  Burgesses,  recognizing  this  fact,  passed  a  vote 
of  thanks  to  Washington  and  his  officers. 

The  government  of  England  was  roused  to  the  fact  that 
if  the  French  occupied  the  Ohio  Valley,  the  English  terri- 
tory in  America  would  be  greatly  reduced  in  area,  and  at  once 
they  determined  to  disdain  the  action  of  Dinwiddie  and  make 
an  effort  to  drive  the  French  from  the  Ohio  Valley.  In  ac- 
cordance with  this  purpose,  they  raised  an  arm}'  of  about  one 
thousand  men,  sent  to  Virginia  under  the  command  of  Gen- 
eral Braddock.  They  at  once  consulted  with  Dinwiddie  and 
proceeded  to  Alexandria,  on  the  Potomac  River^  where  his 
troops  were  quartered.  Here  a  conference  was  held  with  the 
Governors  of  five  colonies,  Massachusetts,  New  York,  Penn- 
sylvania, Maryland  and  Virginia.  It  was  decided  that  these 
colonies  should  help  in  the  efforts  to  drive  the  French  out  of 
America.  The  English,  reinforced  by  Virginians  and  Mary- 
landers,  were  to  march  to  the  headwaters  of  the  Ohio  River, 
and  capture  the  strong  fort  which  had  been  built  there  by 
the  French,  known  as  Fort  Duquesne ;  after  which  they  were 
to  proceed  against  the  forts  of  the  French  along  the  Great 
Lakes.  The  northern  colonies  were  to  make  a  fort  on  the 
French  settlement,  beginning  at  the  mouth  of  the  St.  Law- 
rence, and  pass  up  the  river,  and  thus,  according  to  General 
Braddock,  all  of  the  French  possessions  south  of  the  St.  Law- 


378  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA. 

rence  were,  by  the  fall  of  1755,  to  be  in  the  hands  of  the  Brit- 
ish. Alas  for  Braddock!  he  did  not  understand  the  situation. 
Benjamin  Franklin  advised  with  Braddock,  and  he  was  unwill- 
ing to  take  the  advice  of  an  American  who  was  not  even  a  sol- 
dier. Franklin  said,  "To  be  sure,  sir,  if  you  arrive  well  before 
Duquesne,  with  these  fine  troops,  the  fort  can  probably  make 
but  a  short  resistance."  Franklin  put  great  stress  on  the  "if." 
He  emphasized  afterwards  the  difficulty  of  passing  through 
the  Indian  country.  Braddock  laughed  at  the  whole  thing, 
and  said: 

"These  savages  may  be  indeed  a  formidable  enemy  to  raw- 
American  militia,  but  upon  the  King's  regular  and  disciplined 
troops,  sir,  it  is  impossible  to  make  any  impression." 

Braddock's  movement  on  Fort  Duquesne  was  very  much 
like  that  of  the  march  of  triumph.  He  went  first  in  his  coach 
to  Greenway  Court,  where  he  called  on  Lord  Fairfax;  then 
he  passed  through  the  western  part  of  Maryland  with  bands 
playing  and  banners  flying.  He  was  disgusted  with  the  roads 
and  swore  great  oaths  when  he  found  out  that  he  could  not 
secure  wagons  in  which  to  carry  his  provisions.  Colonel 
Washington  modestly  informed  him  that  it  would  be  impos- 
sible to  continue  the  march  of  a  column  with  wagons  through 
a  wilderness,  but  General  Braddock  regarded  this  as  pre- 
sumption on  the  part  of  a  "Provincial"  soldier.  As  the  English 
were  marching  recklessly  through  the  dense  wilderness  about 
eight  miles  from  Fort  Duquesne  they  were  suddenly  fired  upon 
by  the  French  and  Indians,  who  were  hid  in  the  woods. 
Though  they  formed  themselves  in  their  accustomed  ranks, 
crying,  "God  save  the  King!  God  save  the  King!"  they  were 
being  killed  in  numbers  when  Washington  asked  Braddock  to 
order  his  troops  to  take  to  the  woods  and  fire  from  behind  the 
trees  in  Indian  fashion.  It  is  reported  that  Braddock  was 
very  angry  with  Washington,  replying:  "What!  a  Virginia 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON.  379 

colonel  teach  a  British  general  how  to  fight !"  The  loss  of  the 
Virginia  and  English  troops  was  heavy,  and  when  they  broke 
it  was  Washington  who  gathered  up  the  fugitives  and  brought 
from  the  field  Braddock,  who  had  received  a  mortal  wound. 
Four  days  later  Braddock  was  buried  and  Washington  read 
the  solemn  words  of  the  English  burial  service  at  the  grave. 

Washington  returned  to  Miount  Vernon,  worn  out  with 
his  campaign.  He  wrote  to  his  mother:  'Tf  it  is  in  my  power 
to  avoid  going  to  the  Ohio  again  I  shall,  but  if  the  command 
is  pressed  upon  me  by  the  general  voice  of  the  country  and  of- 
fered upon  such  terms  as  cannot  be  objected  against,  it  would 
reflect  dishonor  upon  me  to  refuse  it."  The  very  day  on  which 
he  wrote  this  letter  the  Governor  offered  to  him  the  com- 
mand of  all  the  Virginia  troops  on  his  pwn  terms.  Washing- 
ton accepted  and  established  his  headquarters  at  Winchester. 

At  this  time  Winchester  was  a  frontier  town,  being  the 
only  one  in  the  northern  valley.  There  were  then  but  two 
counties,  Frederick  and  Augusta,  west  of  the  Blue  Ridge 
Mountains.  Virginia  had  fifty-two  counties  and  forty-four 
towns,  though  more  than  half  of  the  latter  had  not  more  than 
five  houses.  The  population  of  the  colony  was  about  two 
hundred  and  ninety-three  thousand,  of  whom  one  hundred 
and  twenty  thousand  were  negroes. 

At  Winchester  Washington  was  joined  by  Major  Andrew 
Lewis,  the  great  frontier  Indian  fighter  lof  the  Augusta  region. 
Washington's  defense  of  the  frontier  proved  so  effective  that 
soon  many  settlers  came  into  the  Valley,  and  by  1759  Win- 
chester contained  two  hundred  houses.  You  have  learned  in 
connection  with  Andrew  Lewis  that  General  Forbes  under- 
took an  expeditiion  against  Fort  Duquesne.  Washington  com- 
manded the  Virginia  troops  and  joined  General  Forbes.  It 
was  against  Washington's  advice  that  Major  Grant,  with 
Major  Andrew  Lewis,  was  sent  to  reconnoitre  the  country 


3^0  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA. 

about  Fort  Duquesne.  When  Forbes  moved  with  the  main 
army  against  the  fort  Washington  requested  to  be  put  in  the 
front,  and  Forbes,  remembering  Braddock's  fate,  compHed  with 
the  request.  With  his  sixteen  hundred  Virginians  Washing- 
ton led  the  march  to  Fort  Duquesne.  In  accordance  with  his 
advice,  also,  the  army  pushed  rapidly  forward.  As  a  result, 
the  French  were  surprised  and  disconcerted,  and  abandoned 
the  place.  Washington,  with  his  Virginians,  was  the  first  to 
•enter  this  fort,  where  he  planted,  with  liis  own  hand,  the 
English  flag  (1758).  The  works  were  repaired  and  named 
Fort  Pitt,  in  honor  of  the  Prime  Minister  of  England.  The 
French  were  at  last  driven  from  the  Ohio  region. 

The  people  of  Frederick  elected  Washington  a  member  of 
the  House  of  Burgesses,  though  he  was  not  a  resident  of  that 
county.  On  taking  his  seat  Speaker  Robinson  thanked  him  in 
behalf  of  the  colony  for  his  service  in  the  wars.  Washington 
rose  to  express  his  acknowledgments  for  the  honor,  but  was 
so  disconcerted  as  to  be  unable  to  articulate  a  word  distinctly. 
He  blushed  and  faltered  a  moment,  when  the  Speaker  relieved 
him  from  his  embarrassment  by  saying,  "Sit  down,  Mr.  Wash- 
ington ;  your  modesty  equals  your  valor,  and  that  surpasses 
the  power  of  any  language  that  I  possess." 

Just  before  Washington  marched  with  General  Forbes  to 
Fort  Duquesne,  he  was  on  his  way  to  Williamsburg  to  make  a 
report  to  Governor  Dinwiddle.  When  he  was  within  a  few 
hours'  ride  of  the  old  capital  he  was  hailed  by  Colonel  Cham- 
berlayne,  of  New  Kent  county,  who  took  him  to  dine  at  his 
home.  As  he  was  anxious  to  be  m  Williamsburg  by  the  next 
morning,  he  ordered  his  servant,  Bishop,  to  have  his  horse 
ready  after  dinner.  Accordingly,  when  the  noon  meal  was 
over.  Bishop  was  seen  at  the  front  gate  holding  his  master's 
horse,  but  Washington  was  so  captivated  by  Mrs.  Custis  that 
he  forgot  his  urgent  business,  and  left  his  servant  to  hold  the 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON.  381 

horse  all  the  afternoon.  At  last  he  rose  to  go,  but  his  host 
told  him  that  he  was  never  willing  for  any  of  his  giiests  to 
leave  after  sunset,  and  Washington  was  prevailed  upon  to 
spend  the  night.  The  next  morning  Bishop  again  appeared 
at  the  front  gate  with  his  master's  horse,  but  it  was  late  in  the 
morning  before  the  start  was  made  to  Williamsburg.  On  his 
return  from  Williamsburg  Washington  stopped  to  see  Mrs. 
Custis  at  her  home,  and  before  he  left  she  had  promised  to  be 
his  wife. 

Some  n^onths  later  they  were  married  at  Old  St.  Peter's 
Church,  in  New  Kent  county.  We  are  told  that  the  Governor 
came  from  Williamsburg  in  his  coach  and  six,  and  many  of  his 
state  officials  were  also  present  at  the  marriage.  After  the 
marriage  the  bride  and  her  lady  friends  were  borne  to  her 
home,  the  White  House,  on  the  Potomac  River,  in  a  carriage 
drawn  by  six  horses,  on  which  sat  negro  drivers  dressed  in 
uniform.  The  groom,  accompanied  by  other  gentlemen  on 
horseback,  rode  beside  the  coach  on  his  fine  charger. 

Soon  after  his  marriage  Washington  made  his  home  at 
Mount  Vernon,  a  fine  estate,  which  he  inherited  from  his 
brother.  He  enjoyed  the  free  and  easy  life  of  a  planter,  and 
when  not  engaged  in  the  services  of  his  country,  he  took  de- 
light in  looking  after  his  plantation.  He  rode  over  his  farm 
each  day  tp  see  if  everything  was  being  properly  done  by  his 
many  slaves  and  their  overseers.  He  lived  plainly.  Some- 
times he  would  ride  out  in  his  carriage  with  his  wife  and  step- 
children to  visit  a  neighbor  or  to  attend  a  ball.  He  was  fre- 
quently a  visitor  at  the  home  of  George  Mason,  who  wrote  the 
famous  Virginia  Bill  of  Rights.  At  times  he  went  fox-hunting 
with  Lord  Fairfax  or  some  of  the  neighbors.  During  this 
period  he  served  in  the  House  of  Burgesses.  Like  other  poli- 
ticians of  the  day,  when  election  time  came  on  he  appeared 
before  the  voters  and  did  the  usual  treating.     We  are  told 


382  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA. 

that  when  he  was  first  elected  a  member  of  the  Burgesses, 
though  only  a  few  hundred  votes  were  cast,  he  paid  for  his 
election  with  a  hogshead  and  a  barrel  of  punch,  thirty-five 
gallons  of  wine,  forty-three  gallons  of  strong  cider  and 
dinner  for  his  friends.  The  cost  in  money  was  £39,  6s. 
($200).  Jefferson  had  done  the  same  thing  when  he  was  first 
elected  to  the  Burgesses.  It  has  already  been  remarked  that 
the  people  of  Orange  once  failed  to  elect  Madison  a  member 
of  the  Legislature  because  he  would  not  spend  money  in  treat- 
ing. Washington  was  a  member  of  the  House  of  Burgesses 
in  1765,  when  Patrick  Henry  took  his  seat  and  offered  those 
famous  resolutions  against  the  stamp  act.  We  do  not  know 
how  Washington  voted,  but  he  probably  voted  with  the  Con- 
servatives against  Henry's  resolutions,  though  he  was  op- 
posed to  the  stamp  act. 

Although  England  soon  repealed  the  stamp  act,  she  still 
insisted  on  the  right  to  tax  the  colonies,  and  laid  duties  upon 
tea  and  some  other  articles  which  were  imported  by  the 
colonists.  Washington  felt  that  this  was  an  imposition,  and 
he  wrote  to  his  friend  Mason:  "Something  should  be  done  to 
maintain  the  liberty  which  we  have  derived  from  our  an- 
cestors. No  man  should  hesitate  a  moment  to  use  arms  in 
defense  of  so  valuable  a  blessing  is  clearly  my  opinion.  Yet 
arms,  I  shiould  beg  leave  to  sugigest,  should  be  the  last  re- 
source." In  1769,  on  account  of  strong  resolutions  against 
the  English  government,  the  Governor  dissolved  the  Bur- 
gesses. Thereafter  most  of  them  met  in  the  RaleigTi  Tavern 
and  adopted  some  resolutions,  called  the  non-importation 
agreement,  drawn  by  George  Mason  and  presented  by  Wash- 
ington, agreeing  that  none  of  them  would  import  from  Eng- 
land tea  or  any  other  taxed  goods.  Washington  lived  up  to 
this  agreement,  and  would  not  allow  any  tea  to  be  used  in 
his  own  home. 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON.  383 

Shortly  after  this,  by  act  pi  English  Parliament,  the  Bos- 
ton harbor  was  closed,  and  the  first  Continental  Congress 
wiet  in  Philadelphia  in  1774.  Washington  was  chosen  one 
of  the  Virginia  representatives  to  that  body,  which  asked 
England  to  repeal  her  harsh  laws  against  the  colonies.  Con- 
gress adjourned  to  meet  again  in  May,  1775.  Before  it  as- 
sembled the  first  battle  of  the  Revolution  was  fought  on  April 
19th  at  Concord  and  Lexington,  in  Massachusetts,  and  the 
colonies  were  in  open  rebellion  against  the  mother  country. 

When  the  second  Continental  Congress  assembled  on 
May  10,  1775,  it  began  immediately  to  consider  what  the 
colonies  ought  to  do,  and  after  a  month's  time  decided  to  put 
an  army  in  the  field.  Against  his  wish,  Washington  was 
elected  as  commander-in-chief  of  the  American  forces.  He 
proceeded  at  once  to  Boston,  where  he  was  received  with 
shouts  and  the  firing  of  cannon.  On  July  3,  1775,  he  took 
command  of  the  Continental  army. 

The  story  of  the  Revolutionary  War  belong's  to  the  his- 
tory of  the  United  States,  and  cannot  be  given  here.  Suf- 
ficient it  is  to  say  that  from  1775  to  1781,  a  period  of  six 
years,  Washington  held  the  English  army  under  check  in 
New  York,  Pennsylvania  and  New  Jersey.  He  lost  several 
battles,  but  never  suffered  any  crushing  defeats.  By  two 
brilliant  victories,  one  at  Trenton  and  the  other  at  Princeton, 
he  saved  the  American  cause. 

His  soldiers  suffered  greatly  in  the  terrible  winters,  and 
especially  while  they  were  stationed  at  Valley  Forge,  near 
Philadelphia,  during  the  winter  of  1777-1778.  Though  the 
army  had  scarcely  any  clothes,  shoes  or  food,  Washington 
did  not  despair. 

Many  of  the  soldiers  had  to  go  barefooted,  and  they 
could  be  tracked  through  the  snow  by  the  blood  from  their 
naked  feet.     Many  terrible  things  were  said  of  Washington^ 


384  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA. 

but  he  bore  them  all  with  a  clear  conscience  and  with  an  un- 
complaining spirit,  relying  upon  Providence  for  final  vindi- 
cation, A  story  is  told  that  a  good  old  Quaker  heard  Wash- 
ington praying  in  the  woods,  and  went  home  and  said  to  his 
wife:  "George  Washington  will  succeed.  The  Americans 
will  secure  their  independence.  I  have  heard  him  pray  in 
the  forest  to-day,  and  the  Lord  will  surely  hear  his  prayer." 

A  less  brave  man  would  have  succumbed  to  the  neglect  of 
Congress,  which  had  ample  supplies,  but  did  not  furnish  the 
means  of  sending  them  to  the  army.  A  plot  was  hatched  even 
to  remove  Washington  from  the  command,  but  it  failed  to 
carry,  and  Washington  continued  to  persevere.  Through 
the  skill  of  a  German  officer,  Baron  Steuben,  the  soldiers  were 
kept  in  constant  drill,  and  when  they  were  out  of  winter 
quarters  in  the  spring,  they  were  better  disciplined  than  at 
any  time  before. 

After  two  years  of  waiting,  the  time  came  when  the  final 
blow  should  be  given.  Lord  Cornwallis,  with  an  English 
army,  had  stationed  himself  at  Yorktown.  A  French  fleet 
had  entered  the  mouth  of  York  River,  and  thus  an  English 
fleet  was  prevented  from  bringing  aid.  Washington  saw  the 
situation  and  marched  rapidly  from  York  to  Yorktown,  where 
he  found  Lafayette  and  the  Virginia  troops  under  Nelson. 
With  Washington  was  a  strong  French  force  under  Count 
Rochambeau.  When  the  army  was  drawn  up  at  Yorktown 
it  numbered  in  all  twelve  thousand  men.  Gradually  the  lines 
of  the  Americans  were  moved  closer  and  closer,  and  each  day 
the  English  were  subjected  to  a  heavy  fire.  After  a  siege  of 
three  weeks  Cornwallis  decided  to  surrender,  and  on  the 
19th  of  October,  1781,  the  English  marched  between  the 
Americans  and  French,  drawn  up  in  separate  lines,  and  laid 
down  their  arms,  while  the  band  played  "The  World  Turned 
Upside  Down." 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON.  385 

The  war  was  now  at  an  end,  and  in  1783  Eng-land  acknowl- 
edged the  independence  of  the  thirteen  States.  During  the 
long  struggle  Washington  had  been  unselfishly  patriotic.  At 
one  time  the  army  was  ready  to  declare  him  King,  but  Wash- 
ington sternly  rejected  such  a  proposition. 

In  December,  1783,  he  bade  farewell  to  the  officers  of  the 
army  in  Fraunccs's  Tavern,  New  York.  To  those  men  who 
had  followed  him  through  the  long  and  dark  contest  he  said: 
"With  a  heart  full  of  love  and  gratitude  I  now  take  my  leave 
of  you,  most  devoutly  wishing  that  your  latter  days  may  be 
as  prosperous  and  happy  as  your  former  ones  have  been 
glorious  and  honorable,"  In  silence  and  with  tears  in  his 
eyes  he  embraced  each  officer,  after  which  he  walked  to 
Whitehall  Ferry  and  began  his  journey  homeward.  He  went 
to  Annapolis,  Md.,  where  he  resigned  his  commission  to 
Congress,  and  on  Christmas  eve,  1783,  reached  Mt,  Vernon, 
which  he  had  left  eight  years  before  to  become  commander- 
in-chief  of  the  Continental  army. 

In  1787  a  convention  met  in  Philadelphia  to  draw  up  a 
Constitution  for  the  United  States.  Washington  was  one  of 
the  Virginia  delegates,  and  was  made  president  of  the  con- 
vention. When  the  Constitution  went  into  effect,  in  1789, 
Washington  was  elected  as  the  first  President  of  the  United 
States,  having  received  every  vote  cast.  It  was  with  some 
regret  that  he  left  Mt.  Vernon  to  go  to  New  York,  where 
Congress  was  then  in  session.  His  journey  was  made  by 
carriage,  and  all  along  the  road  he  was  received  with  great 
delight  by  a  loving  people.  On  reaching  New  York  he  was 
conducted  to  Federal  Hall,  where,  on  the  30th  of  April,  1789, 
he  was  inaugurated  President  amid  the  shouts  of  "God  bless 
our  Washington  1     Long  live  our  beloved  Washington  1" 

It  does  not  fall  within  the  domain  of  this  chapter  to  treat 
in  detail  of  his  official  life  as  President  of  the  United  States. 


386  COLONIAL  VIRGINL\. 

He  entered  upon  the  duties  of  his  office  absolutely  without 
enthusiasm,  and  would  have  greatly  preferred  remaining 
upon  his  estate  at  Mt.  Vernon  through  the  remainder  of  his 
years.  The  life  at  Mt.  Vernon  was  utterly  congenial  to  his 
tastes  and  aspirations,  and  it  was  only  the  sternest  sense  of 
duty  that  drew  him  from  its  retirement  and  occupations.  He 
wrote  in  his  diary  concerning  his  departure:  "About  lO 
o'clock  I  bade  adieu  to  Mt.  Vernon,  to  private  life  and  do- 
mestic felicity,  and  with  a  mind  oppressed  with  more  anxious 
and  painful  sensations  than  I  have  words  to  express,  set 
out  for  New  York."  His  career  as  President  was  eventful 
and  exciting,  filled  with  many  trying  and  vexatious  problems, 
provoking  often  the  animosity  of  his  nearest  friends,  c.alled 
into  serious  question  by  many  of  the  wisest  and  best  men  of 
the  times,  grievously  suspected  and  misunderstood  at  times 
by  the  people,  yet  through  it  all  he  brought  his  official  life  to  a 
close,  having  preserved  an  untarnished  integrity,  and  having 
exhibited  in  every  perplexing  question  and  in  every  great 
exigency  a  statesmanship  of  the  highest  order. 

After  eight  years  of  official  life,  he  took  up  his  residence 
again  at  Mt.  Vernon,  giving  wise  and  diligent  care  to  his 
property  and  fortunes  that  had  suffered  no  little  by  his  pro- 
tracted absence  from  home.  Concerning  his  manner  of  liv- 
ing, he  answered  the  inquiry  of  a  friend  in  the  following  vv^ay: 
"I  begin  my  diurnal  course  with  the  sun,  that  if  my  hirelings 
are  not  in  their  places  by  that  time  I  send  them  messages  of 
sorrow  for  their  indisposition.  Having  put  these  wheels  in 
motion,  I  examine  the  state  of  things  further;  the  more  they 
are  probed  to  the  deeps  I  find  the  wounds  which  my  build- 
ings have  sustained  by  an  absence  of  eight  years ;  by  the  time 
I  have  accomplished  these  matters  breakfast  (a  little  after 
7  o'clock,  about  the  time,  I  presume,  you  are  taking  leave  of 
Mrs.  McHenry)  is  ready;  this  being  over,  I  mount  my  horse 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON.  387 

and  ride  round  my  farms,  which  employs  me  until  time  to 
dress  for  dinner,  at  which  time  I  rarely  miss  seeing  strange 
faces.  The  usual  sitting  at  the  table,  a  walk  and  tea  bring 
me  within  the  dawn  of  the  candle  light,  previous  to  which, 
if  not  prevented  by  company,  I  resolve,  as  soon  as  a  glim- 
mering taper  supplies  the  place  of  the  great  luminary,  I  will 
repair  to  my  writing  table  and  acknowledge  the  letters  I  have 
received.  \V.hen  the  lights  are  brought  I  feel  tired  and  in- 
disposed to  engage  in  this  work,  concluding  that  the  next 
night  might  do  as  well.  The  next  night  comes  with  the 
same  cause  for  postponement,  and  so  on.  Having  given  you 
the  history  of  a  day,  it  will  answer  for  a  year."  Thus  pur- 
sued he  the  even  tenor  of  his  way,  in  quiet  and  dignified  and 
well  earned  seclusion,  responding  now  and  then  to  such  calls 
of  duty  as  his  countr3aiien  might  impose,  not  refusing  even 
to  serve  as  a  juryman  in  his  native  county  when  called  upon. 

On  the  I2th  of  December,  1799,  while  riding  over  his 
farm,  he  was  chilled  by  the  keen  winds  and  by  the  cold  rain 
and  sleet  that  was  falling.  When  he  retired  that  night  he 
was  hoarse  and  cold,  and  in  the  night  he  awoke  with  a  sharp 
pain  in  his  throat.  In  the  morning  a  doctor  was  summoned, 
and  the  usual  treatment  of  bleeding  and  other  remedies  were 
applied,  but  nothing  would  relieve  the  trouble,  and  he  died 
on  December  14,  1799.  His  body  lies  entombed  upon  Vir- 
ginia soil  in  a  simple,  but  imposing  tomb  at  IMount  Vernon. 
In  1857  the  State  of  Virginia  erected  to  his  memory  a  splendid 
equestrian  statue,  which  adorns  the  Capitol  Square  at  Rich- 
mond. 

It  must  be  forever  the  unchallenged  pride  of  the  old  Com- 
monwealth that  she  gave  to  the  world  the  peerless  com- 
mander who  was  "first  in  war,  first  in  peace,  first  in  the 
hearts  of  his  countrymen."  Devoted  to  his  own  native  State, 
he  fondly  loved  all  the  sisterhood  of  States,  and  loved  the 


388  'COLONIAL  VIRGINIA. 

union  of  all  the  States  better  than  his  own  life.  lie  was 
the  type  not  of  the  Cavalier,  nor  of  the  Virginian,  but  of 
the  unprovincial  American,  embodying  in  his  imperial  char- 
acter the  best  that  was  in  both  Cavalier  and  Puritan,  in 
warm  Southerner  and  stern  New  Englandcr.  Right  truly 
of  him,  therefore,  wrote  James  Barron  Hope  in  his  centen- 
nial ode  at  Yorktown  in  October,  i'88i : 

"He  knew   not  North,   nor   South,  nor    West,    nor    East: 
Childless    himself,    Father    of    States   he    stood. 
Strong   and    sagacious   as   a   Knight  turned  Priest, 
And   avowed   to    deeds    of   good. 

"So    his    vast    image    shadows    all  the    lands, 
So   holds  forever  Man's  adoring  eye, 
And    o'er    the    Union    which    it  left    it   stands, 
Our   Cross    against    the    sky!" 


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